One Step Further
by SnaketailOfWinterclan
Summary: Several clan kits have been murdered and given human host bodies. After fourteen years, Starclan brings these hosts together and gives them feline forms. These new cats have to learn to adapt and survive under these conditions.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

A pale yellow tom crept nervously through the undergrowth, the gray tabby kitten he was holding snoring lightly. With a flick of his tail he slipped across the border and into the river, holding his head high so that the kitten didn't get too wet. Once on the other side he set the kitten down so that he could shake himself dry. The kitten woke as he picked her up again.

"Mmwhat?" she murmured sleepily.

"Hush," the tom purred around her fur. "It's okay." Waking up more fully, the kitten persisted.

"Who are you? Where are we?" With a quiet sigh, the tom sent her down again.

"My name is Yellowtail and you're near the river."

"Why?"

"So you can learn to swim, of course."

"But I thought swimming was for Riverclan cats?"

"Didn't your leader tell you? The clans are sharing techniques with the young cats of other clans."

"Really? Ospreystar never told us anything."

"She must have forgotten."

"Oh, okay. So how do I swim?"

"Well, first you have to get in the water." Yellowtail picked her up as he spoke and deposited her in the water. The kitten squeaked and spluttered as she fought to keep her head above water.

"Yellowtail! Help!"

Yellowtail walked calmly over to the river bank and sat down, watching her struggle. His ear twitched as he heard something behind him and he turned in time to see a dappled gray and white tom barrel into him. They both tumbled into the river.

"What are you doing, Pickerelpelt?!"

"What am I doing? You're the one drowning innocent kits! Why? And especially, why them? You knew how important they were to me!" Pickerelpelt's voice took on a desperate tone.

"Exactly. They had bad blood in them," Yellowtail snarled, and then spat out the last word; "Yours."

"They would have grown up completely ignorant of their parent's crimes."

"With your blood in them, they probably would have committed the same crime you and that _worthless_ Shadowclanner did."

"She's _not_ worthless!" Pickerelpelt snarled, lunging at Yellowtail. Yellowtail was forced underwater by Pickerelpelt's superior weight.

A speckled gray and yellow she-cat sat, saddened, as she watched her two sons fight. With a sigh, she stood up and bounded over to the water, sliding in with not even a ripple. She swam strongly over to the drowned kitten's side.

"Wake up, Kestrelkit." She murmured gently.

Kestrelkit turned around to look at her.

"Who are you? Why do you have stars in your fur?"

"I am Sunfish, a cat from Starclan."

"Starclan? …So, I died." Kestrelkit concluded sadly.

"Yes." Sunfish agreed quietly. Then she spoke a bit louder. "But we need to go; there are some other cats you need to meet."

Sunfish led Kestrelkit out of the river and into the sky. After traveling for a while, they arrived at a clearing with several other kittens, some looking more comfortable than others.

"I need all of you to pay attention," Sunfish called to them. Then she began explaining Starclan's plan for them.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"We should play a game." Cassie stated, looking around the living room. Megan was sitting on the couch, petting Easter; Ramona was sitting in front of, but facing away from, the computer as she talked to Joel and Loki; Rayalan was crouching over Victoria where she was laying on her favorite cardboard box; Tasha was standing in front of the kitchen doorway; and Nik was sitting on a chair next to the table.

Cassie already knew that Schuylar, Nathan, and Tylvetter were in Schuylar's room and that Crystal, Angel, and Riley were upstairs.

"What sort of game?" Rayalan asked, in a soft voice so that she wouldn't disturb the cat.

"I don't know; a game-like game."

Rayalan almost laughed and turned back to giving Victoria attention.

"How about a warriors game?" Tasha suggested, walking over.

"I'd play." Nik agreed.

"Sounds good." Rayalan murmured. Then, in a slightly louder voice as she turned her head, "what about you Megan?"

"Sure." Megan agreed.

"Yay" Cassie said. "Someone should ask the others, Raya."

Rayalan laughed. "I think you could ask better than that."

"Please?" Cassie added too sweetly.

With another laugh, Raya slid her hands out from underneath Victoria and stood up.

"I'll ask the boys if you'll ask Crystal and Angel."

"Okay"

Rayalan turned around and knocked at Schuylar's door and listened closely to hear him invite her inside. She walked in to see them putting their shoes on.

"Where are you going?"

"We were about to go to the park." Schuylar informed her.

"I was going to invite you to play Warriors with us." Raya said, slightly disappointed before thinking of an idea. "Maybe I could convince the others to play at the park instead."

Schuylar surprised her by agreeing.

"Do you want to come, Nathan?" Schuylar asked, looking at his friend.

"Why not?" Nathan conceded with a shrug.

Raya half-hopped on one foot as she left to check if that was acceptable to the others.

After talking with everyone in the house, all the people younger than thirty were allowed and willing to walk down the street to play their game.

The park in question was a large, forested canyon with a stream running through it and lots of fair-sized clearings. It was bordered on one side with a fairly busy street, a lake on another, and a field of grass on a third. The fourth side opened directly out into the city. The field was also a campsite in summer.

Schuylar and Nathan were at the front of the group talking; Crystal and Angel were playing around; Tasha, Cassie, and Nik were talking together; and Megan and Rayalan were talking at the back of the group while Raya made sure nobody fell too far behind.

Once they got into the park, Schuylar paid less attention to talking and more to leading everyone to a clearing that he went to often.

He sat down when he got there and the others followed suit, sitting in a rough circle.

"So, who's leader?" Schuylar asked.

"We should vote." Rayalan suggested.

"Okay, who's in the vote?"

"Um," Raya looked around. "Suggestions?"

There was a general chuckle at her tone before anyone thought of possible leaders.

"I think Schuylar should be leader." Cassie commented. Schuylar hissed, smiled, and accepted himself as a possibility.

"Well, I say Nathan should." Megan said

"Crystal." Angel added with a nod.

"I think I could be a good leader." Tasha spoke up.

After a moment's silence, Raya spoke. "Okay, so we're voting on Tasha, Crystal, Nathan, and Schuylar. Who votes for Crystal?"

Angel raised her hand.

Raya glanced sympathetically and somewhat apologetically at Crystal as she continued the vote. "Tasha?"

Tasha and Nik both raised their hands.

"Schuylar?"

Schuylar glowered at Nathan as he, Cassie, Crystal, and Rayalan all raised their hands.

"Nathan?"

Megan immediately raised her hand and Schuylar followed soon after.

"Okay, so Schuylar is the leader." Raya concluded. Then she turned to speak directly to her elder brother "What's your name?"

"Darkstar. What about- Oh, wait. Snaketail?"

"Yeah," Raya agreed with a smile. "Nathan, what's your name?"

"I don't know. Brighttalon I guess. Cassie?"

"Silverfire. Crystal?"

"Wildear. What's your warrior name Angel?"

"Dawnbranch."

"I'll be Shiningheart." Tasha commented. "How about you, Nik?"

"I'll be Eaglewing."

"Megan?" Raya asked when she noticed that her friend hadn't spoken yet.

"I'm going to be… um… Blackhawk." Megan answered. "We're going to need a deputy and medicine cat."

"Well, medicine cat is obvious and Brighttalon is my deputy." Darkstar responded.

Snaketail smiled at her new position and went to congratulate Brighttalon. After everyone made their congratulatory comments, they sat down again.

"I think that Nik, Angel, and Megan should play apprentices. Does anyone disagree?" Darkstar asked.

"Why do I have to be an apprentice?" Blackhawk whined angrily.

"I was making a suggestion because you still ask me to teach you to fight."

"Whatever." She sighed in a defeated tone.

"I _really_ hate that word. Anyway, we need to do a ceremony thing."

Darkstar stood up and, after looking around for a little bit, went to stand on a smooth rock.

"We're gathered to give people their names and mentors. Megan, you're my apprentice. Until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Blackpaw.

"Brighttalon, you need an apprentice; you'll be mentor to Dawnpaw.

"And Shiningheart, you'll be Eaglepaw's mentor."

Following Darkstar's example, each of the mentor's shook their apprentice's hand before reclaiming their seats.

"Let's find a camp." Silverfire suggested.

"That was somewhat random." Snaketail pointed out, looking at her friend oddly.

"Well, we should!"

"I wasn't disagreeing."

"Okay," Darkstar cut in. "We can explore for a little while and then meet up back here."

Everyone got up and began going their own way until they heard Darkstar call them back.

"I was actually thinking about sending distinct patrols. Brighttalon, will you take Dawnpaw and Wildear? Shiningheart, please take Eaglepaw and Silverfire. Snaketail and Blackpaw can come with me."

Brighttalon led his patrol off the path and further down into the gorge while Darkstar led his group further up the gorge and off the path, and Shiningheart led her two further down the path than they had gotten before.

After half an hour to an hour, all three patrols were back.

"Shiningheart, you can report first." Darkstar decided.

"We didn't find anywhere that would make a good camp but we did see plenty of wildlife."

"Okay, it's nice that you saw the wildlife but not really too helpful. We're not going to need the food."

"Yeah, it was just nice."

"Okay. What'd you find Na-Brighttalon?"

"We found a pretty nice spot. It's well hidden and big enough to accommodate us and probably several other people."

"Sounds nice. Lead the way."

Brighttalon, Wildear, and Dawnpaw stood and led everyone else through the undergrowth (occasionally warning them of difficult areas) until they were in front of a huge cluster of bushes.

Darkstar glanced questioningly at Brighttalon when they stopped and, with a smile, Brighttalon crouched down and crawled through a hidden tunnel.

Darkstar looked over the rest of his clan before following Brighttalon. After crawling approximately fourteen feet Darkstar found himself in a large clearing with a leaf 'ceiling'. The rest of the clan filed in behind him with Wildear and Dawnpaw at the back.

"We wouldn't have found it if it weren't for Wildear ignoring me."

"Good thing that I did or we would still need a camp."

"Are there any dens?" Shiningheart asked.

"Yeah. There's a good-sized area over there, smaller ones on both sides of it, another big one over there, and two tiny places over there." Brighttalon answered.

Shiningheart and Snaketail went to explore them, followed soon after by their clanmates.

Shiningheart went to see the first one Brighttalon pointed. A careful look exposed the den to be several times bigger than necessary for the few people that were here. Shiningheart also found that there was a very thin wall between the den she was in and a slightly smaller one. She walked out of the larger den and over to the side of it where Brighttalon said there would be a third den. After a bit of searching, she found a thin crack between branches. She pushed at it with one hand and found that the branches slid easily to the side to show another, more closed den that had moss growing across the floor. She left that one after just looking around for a little bit and went to the opposite side of the camp where she could already see an entrance to the second large den that Brighttalon mentioned. This one seemed a bit more open than the other two that she'd been in but still warm.

'A good warrior's den.' Shiningheart thought before leaving to explore the last two dens.

The next one proved to be very small in comparison to the others but still big enough to house at least four people. The last one was the smallest one yet, Shiningheart could easily move around in it but too many more people and it would begin to feel rather crowded.

"I want to camp here." Snaketail was saying when Shiningheart left the last den.

"Yeah, but everyone would need to talk to their parent-people." Wildear pointed out.

"Actually," Darkstar added. "It's getting pretty late. We'll have to head back soon."

"We should get more people and play tomorrow. We won't have to worry about finding a camp then and people could get the necessary permission." Snaketail suggested, hopefully.

"Maybe not tomorrow, but definitely soon." Eaglepaw agreed.

"What do you think, Darkstar?" Silverfire asked.

"Meh, sounds good."

After discussing it a bit, everyone agreed on next weekend.

They left the park in much the same way they came in, with Darkstar and Brighttalon at front and Snaketail and Blackpaw in the back.


	3. Chapter 2

As soon as everyone got back to Darkstar's house, Snaketail, Wildear, Shiningheart, Eaglepaw, Brighttalon, and Darkstar asked their guardians if they could stay the weekend in the park. Silverfire, Blackpaw, and Dawnpaw took turns on the phone, asking permission from their guardians also.

Silverfire's grandma and Blackpaw's mother were particularly reluctant but they conceded after they were told how big a group was going.

They all reconvened in Darkstar's room after everyone was done talking to the older adults.

"So, we'll all meet up here next weekend?" Darkstar asked, looking at Silverfire, Dawnpaw, and Blackpaw.

Those three agreed and Silverfire took a step forward to ask a question.

"Should we bring extra people?"

"I think we should." Snaketail reiterated. "The more people, the better."

"Alright. If anyone wants to bring someone camping with us, either bring them here or have them wait at the park. You can even bring Puppy if you want, Cassie."

"Thank you."

After the conversation, all of the children left, leaving Darkstar and Brighttalon in their bedroom. Silverfire, Blackpaw, and Dawnpaw went to their homes later in the day with Wildear following Dawnpaw home.

The next three days seemed to pass remarkably fast to Darkstar and suddenly it was the weekend and people were showing up at his house.

Silverfire had brought her boyfriend, Chris, first and they sat together on the couch.

"Hey, Puppy." Darkstar greeted Chris as he passed through the room.

Dawnpaw, Wildear, Darkstar's cousin Adam, and Adam's wife Taba arrived while he was in the kitchen. Wildear and Adam started sparring after they took off their shoes and coats.

Blackpaw entered with Snaketail's boyfriend Frank and their friend Kayleigh.

"Hey, Raya?" Kayleigh began. "I think I saw some of your friends waiting at the park."

"Okay, thank you, Kayleigh." Snaketail responded before turning to speak with Darkstar. "Should we go then?"

"Depends. Hey people!" Darkstar called to the room in general. "Is everyone packed with bedding and enough food for three days' worth of camping?"

"What's going on?" Taba asked.

"We were going to go camping." Snaketail answered.

"Oh, we just showed up to visit."

"We could come back later." Adam suggested.

"You should come with us." Shiningheart said.

"I'm afraid we can't." Taba responded. "We need to go home tonight."

"Is it okay if I stay with them for one night, Taba?" Adam asked.

"Okay, just be back tomorrow morning." Taba answered after a slight hesitation.

"Thanks dear."

"I'll see you tomorrow then." Taba left as she spoke.

"So, is everybody prepared?" Darkstar asked again.

Most of the people agreed.

"Not at all. Can I borrow a sleeping bag?" Adam spoke up

"Sure. Catch." Snaketail answered, tossing a rolled up sleeping bag at him.

After she made sure Adam caught it, Snaketail put on her backpack and picked up a different sleeping bag. This encouraged everyone else to reclaim their supplies. In a matter of minutes, the group that had gone to Wildear's house had met up with the two people who were waiting at the park.

"Hey Sarah. Hello Jullia." Snaketail greeted her friends when they arrived Darkstar nodded a greeting to Jullia and said hello to Sarah.

Darkstar led the new group down to the camp that the first group had found.

"We're all going to need to think of warrior names or say the ones that we came up with before." Darkstar instructed once everyone was inside. They sat down in a rough circle again after he finished and just said their names around the circle, starting with Brighttalon who was sitting next to Darkstar.

"I'm Brighttalon, a silver tom with long claws."

"Silverfire. I'm a silver Egyptian Mau with blue eyes"

"Snaketail. I'm aslender gray tabby with bright green eyes."

"Foxfur. A ginger tabby with green eyes."

"Wildear. A calico cat with forest green eyes."

"Sandpelt, I have sandy colored fur"

"Shiningheart. I'm a dark brown tabby Maine Coon."

"Shadowlion, a medium to long furred black cat with green eyes"

"Wolffang. I'm a gray and white cat with yellow-green eyes."

"Nightshade, a black and white cat with brown eyes"

"Blackhawk, or rather Blackpaw I guess. I have black fur and blue eyes."

"Eaglepaw. I'm a brown cat with white speckles and brown eyes."

"Dawnpaw, a small brown cat with brown eyes."

"Firestorm. It seems like everybody is a cat so I guess I'll be a reddish cat with green eyes. I've never read the warriors books before so you'll probably have to explain things to me."

"Okay, who else from the people who weren't here before have not read Warriors?" Darkstar asked. Sandpelt, Shadowlion, Foxfur, Firestorm, and Wolffang raised their hands.

"'Kay, Hime-" Darkstar began.

"It should be Shadowlion." Silverfire interrupted.

"Right, Shadowlion, Wolffang, and Firestorm, you're now Shadowpaw, Wolfpaw, and Firepaw, apprentices alongside Dawnpaw, Eaglepaw, and Blackpaw. Sandpelt and Foxfur can remain warriors because I know that you two can fight adequately.

"Okay, I'm going to assign mentors and I might change the mentors of some of the apprentices I've already given mentors to.

"Brighttalon will keep his apprentice. I'd like Sandpelt to mentor Eaglepaw instead of Shiningheart. I want Shiningheart to mentor Shadowpaw. Foxfur can mentor Wolfpaw, I'll mentor Blackpaw, Silverfire can mentor Firepaw, and-"

Nightpaw interrupted by raising a hand. "I'd like to be Snaketail's apprentice. Is that okay?"

"Do you want to teach her, Snaketail?"

"Yeah." Her answer was immediate.

"Okay. And Nightpaw is Snaketail's apprentice. People can go find their dens I guess."

Everyone got up and converged into groups. The warriors went to each other, the apprentices found each other, the two medicine cats stood together, and Darkstar searched alone for a good leader's den.

"One of the dens that Brighttalon's patrol found last Tuesday would make a perfect warrior's den." Shiningheart told the warriors. "It's this one."

Shiningheart led them to the large, more open den that she noticed when she explored the camp.

While Shiningheart was bringing the warriors to their den, Dawnpaw was showing the apprentices the smaller den that connected to the other large den, and Snaketail was bringing Nightpaw to the second smallest den.

After dropping his stuff off in the warriors den, Brighttalon showed Darkstar the smallest den, which he assumed would be the leader's den.

"Thanks Brighttalon. Hey, could you fetch Snaketail and come back here?"

"Sure."

As he waited for his sister and surrogate brother to come in, Darkstar unpacked his backpack. He had his sleeping bag and a pillow, a few books to read, three bottles of water, a few sodas, some bread, lunch meat, chips, cards, his trench-coat, a few of his knives, a couple notebooks, kindling, matches, a lighter, several pencils and pencil-top erasers, his two binders of printed out lyrics, and a water pouch that was built into his backpack.

He rolled out his sleeping bag on the opposite side of the den from the entrance; set the drinks at the head of it; and put the fire making stuff, his folded trench-coat, and his knives on a different side of the den, next to his backpack. He left all the other stuff in his bag so that they wouldn't get soggy, lost, or attacked by bugs.

Snaketail and Brighttalon arrived just as he finished reclosing his backpack. They walked in and sat down near the center. Three people made the den a bit crowded but not too bad.

"What'd you need?" Brighttalon asked.

"How are we going to do this? I mean, we're already playing it differently than we usually do, so how exactly will we keep this a warriors game and not just a camping trip?" Darkstar responded.

Just as Snaketail was about to speak, she was interrupted by what sounded like a cat's yowl. With an alarmed glance at each other, Darkstar, Brighttalon, and Snaketail hurried back outside to see a black cat hissing at Silverfire. Silverfire looked somewhat shocked and wasn't saying anything.

It took the three of them a second to process what they were seeing before Snaketail went forward to look at the problem more closely.

"What happened, Cassie?"

After a few blinks, Silverfire spoke. "I was arguing with Megan and then she was gone. And there was a cat." Silverfire's eyes never left the cat while she was speaking but the cat had stopped yowling.

"Okay, can you go to my den and wait for me. I'll be there in a bit. Mine is the one to your left and slightly behind you. Nightpaw will be in there."

Silverfire nodded and walked to the medicine den. Snaketail crouched down to speak directly to the cat, whose fur was still bristling.

"Megan?"

The cat's fur slowly started to flatten and suddenly she was a human again. A still upset human. Snaketail's eyes displayed surprise and shock but she didn't say anything about the transformation.

"Megan, what happened?"

"I was trying to get to my den and Cassie wouldn't get out of the way even when I said to move and then she got angry at me and I was just trying to set my stuff down and-"

"Okay, wait please. After the argument, what happened?"

"I don't know. The ground seemed closer and Cassie seemed bigger and I don't know what happened!" Blackpaw stopped wailing but hid her head behind her arms.

"Okay, come on. I want you to come to my den. Okay?"

Blackpaw didn't respond but she did follow Snaketail to her den.

"Hey, Silverfire, Nightpaw, could you come here?" Snaketail called into her den as she entered. Silverfire appeared right away and Nightpaw called out from the back that she was coming.

Once they were all there, Snaketail gestured for them to sit as she sat down. They obeyed her instruction and she turned to speak to Silverfire.

"Can you tell me what happened in your perspective, Silverfire?"

"I was looking for you and hadn't noticed I was in front of the apprentice's den until Megan came up behind me, ordering me to move. And you know how much I like being ordered around."

"I wasn't ordering you! I asked!" Blackpaw interrupted.

"Megan." Snaketail warned. "I asked Silverfire to tell me what happened. You'll get your chance." Snaketail gestured with a nod for Silverfire to continue.

"So I turned around and told her not to order me about. Then the argument got progressively worse until Megan started shrinking and growing black fur."

"Okay. Thank you. How did you see it Blackpaw? I know you told me earlier but I want Nightpaw to hear also."

"I had walked to the apprentices den so I could set my stuff down and Cassie was standing in front of the entrance so I asked her to move. -"

"Ordered." Silverfire muttered.

"I asked!"

"Enough, please." Snaketail cut into their argument. "Cassie, you already told us your view. I asked Megan for hers now. Please continue Megan."

"Then after I asked her, she still wouldn't move; she just started yelling at me. So I got angry and then we began arguing and Cassie seemed to get bigger. I thought I had fallen but there was no sensation of falling. And then Cassie went quiet and you came in."

"Okay, thank you both. Silverfire, if you want, you can leave."

"Thanks." Silverfire said as she got up and left. She very much wanted to say one last thing to Blackpaw but she curbed the urge.

"How do you feel, Blackpaw?"

"Angry and upset and kind of tired. And itchy."

"Okay, you can leave too."

Snaketail waited until she couldn't hear Blackpaw's footsteps anymore before turning to Nightpaw.

"What do you make of it?"

"Of my friends randomly transforming into felines? I don't really know what to think."

"Yeah, me neither." They both sat in silence for a little bit, contemplating this newfound oddity until Snaketail realized something.

"Oh, hey. Where were you? I mean, I know you were in our den but I thought our den was only what's visible now."

"No, come on! I found somewhere really cool. It's back here."

Nightpaw excitedly led her mentor to the far side of their den where some tall ferns obscured a smaller tunnel leading into a dry, dark area. Snaketail looked around inside and found that there were several small niches and cracks in the stone walls. Very few looked big enough for animals to live in and they looked like they could be used to store small items.

"Do you still have that oak leaf, Snaketail?"

"Yeah, it's in my bag. Do you think it could fit in here?" Snaketail asked, understanding where Nightpaw was leading.

"There's no reason it shouldn't. I was just putting some plantain leaves in this crack." Nightpaw pointed to one of the cracks that was filled with some very round leaves and some very narrow leaves.

"Great, I'll go get them." Snaketail turned and squeezed back out and grabbed her backpack from where she left it, just inside the main medicine den. She dug through her stuff, carelessly tossing her sleeping bag to the side and setting her books more carefully next to her.

Snaketail had brought her sleeping bag; the Warriors Field Guide; four or five reading books (including a couple Warriors books); three apples; two oranges; three sodas; three bottles of water; some crackers; a bag of dried oak leaf and salt to keep it dried; a metal water bottle filled with iced tea; a bag of chickweed; a bag of miner's lettuce; a bag with a few plantain leaves and a few dandelion leaves; two or three partially used notebooks; a couple folders with drawings and notes she wrote over a period of time; her pencil box with colored pencils, pencils, pens, highlighters, and erasers; her pocket knife; a box of strike anywhere matches; her mortar and pestle; and a tinderbox.

She grabbed the oak leaf, plantain and dandelion, and chickweed and returned to where her apprentice was waiting.

"I had more medicinal plants than I originally thought." Snaketail said as she crawled in. "Including some more plantain."

"Okay, Great! I'll put the plantain away if you'll get the oak leaf."

"Okay, thanks." Snaketail handed Nightpaw the plantain and opened the bag of oak leaves. They spent the next several minutes putting plants away while the rest of the clan settled into their camp. Everyone seemed mostly content, with very few arguments and the sun was setting before anyone expected it to.

"Hey, everyone!" Darkstar called from a tall tree with low-hanging branches. He waited a couple seconds while his clan gathered around the tree. "I know everyone already has a name, a mentor, and a position but we didn't actually perform the correct ceremonies so I thought I would. And I think we should call our clan Leafclan because of the leafy roof and dens. Does anyone disagree?"

Darkstar waited a minute or two but when it became apparent that nobody had any complaints, he continued.

"By naming apprentices, we show that Leafclan will stay strong. Megan, from now on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Blackpaw. I'll be your mentor.

"Kayleigh, from now on until you receive your full name, you will be known as Nightpaw. Snaketail will be your mentor.

"Chris, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Wolfpaw. Foxfur will be your mentor.

"Sarah, until you receive your warrior name, you'll be known as Shadowpaw. Your mentor will be Shiningheart.

"Nik, until you receive your warrior name, you'll be known as Eaglepaw. Sandpelt will mentor you.

"Angel, you will be known as Dawnpaw until you receive your warrior name. Brighttalon will be your mentor.

"Jullia, from now on until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Firepaw. Your mentor will be Silverfire.

"And now for the warriors. I guess I should have done you first but oh well.

"Adam, from this moment on, you will be known as Sandpelt. Tasha, from now on, you will be known as Shiningheart. Nathan, from here on, you will be known as Brighttalon. Frank, from this moment on, you will be known as Foxfur. Crystal, from here on, you will be known as Wildear. Cassie, from this moment on, you will be known as Silverfire. Rayalan, from now on, you will be known as Snaketail. You have chosen a special position in our clan and we welcome you as medicine cat of Leafclan.

"And finally for our deputy ceremony. I say these words before Leafclan so that they may hear and approve my choice, Brighttalon will be deputy of Leafclan."

The newly named Leafclan were quiet during the meeting but after Darkstar finished the ceremonies, they burst into applause and congratulated each other. Darkstar looked down at all his friends and acquaintances and smiled at how happy everyone was.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Nightpaw, wake up."

A short pause.

"Nightpaw, I need you to wake up."

Nightpaw rolled over and muttered something unintelligible.

"Come on. Please wake up Nightpaw."

Nightpaw's eyes finally opened so that she could see her mentor leaning over her.

"Whaddya want?" Nightpaw mumbled, still mostly asleep.

"We need to find something. Wake up."

"Right now? It's the middle of the night!"

"I know. And I am sorry but this is important."

"Alright." Nightpaw sighed, giving in and clambering up. "Where are we going?"

Snaketail glanced to the side, embarrassed as she answered. "I- I can't really explain it but I know the way."

Nightpaw made a noise of complaint but pulled her shoes on anyway.

Once they both had their shoes and coats, Snaketail led Nightpaw silently out of camp, oblivious to the eyes watching them. After a few seconds, Darkstar slipped out of his den, looked around carefully, and followed the medicine cats.

Snaketail led the way to a stream that flowed near the camp before turning to her right and following it upstream for several paces. She paused at a crooked looking rock and looked around uncertainly but she had continued moving before Nightpaw could complain. It took most of the night and Nightpaw was nearly ready to collapse before Snaketail finally spoke.

"We're nearly there. Look, you can see it now!" Snaketail's tired voice was clearly excited. Nightpaw looked up to where Snaketail was pointing to a steep, stone cliff.

"You dragged me out of bed and forced me to traipse through the forest all night to see a _cliff_!" Nightpaw shouted, suddenly furious. Snaketail's eyes blazed angrily at Nightpaw's tone but she caught herself before she shouted back.

"No," Snaketail responded with forced calm. "I woke you up and led you through the woods so that we could see the Mooncave and converse with Starclan."

"Starclan _isn't real_!" Nightpaw insisted. "We… Have… Been… Playing… A… _Game_!"

"Of course they're real." Snaketail said, almost dismissively. "Why did you choose to be a medicine cat if they weren't?"

"Because I wanted to learn about medicinal plants."

"Good, then I'll expect you to pay more attention when I'm trying to teach you from now on." Snaketail retorted drily. Then she softened her tone to nearly begging. "But please, even if you don't believe, at least humor me on this. There is a way inside that cliff. I even know where. Please, just let me prove it."

Nightpaw still wasn't happy but she decided she could sacrifice a couple more minutes to prove Snaketail was wrong. After Nightpaw nodded her consent, Snaketail turned and walked briskly toward the cliff. Nightpaw and Darkstar followed her as she located a small waterfall. With only a slight hesitation, Snaketail walked through the waterfall and vanished into the cliff. Nightpaw followed soon after and Darkstar a couple minutes after her.

He paused to look around and shake off the worst of the moisture before continuing down the long, dark tunnel. There were some smaller tunnels leading off, deeper into the stone but Snaketail's and Nightpaw's footsteps led him along the main tunnel. A jolt of worry shot through Darkstar when he realized that he couldn't hear the footsteps anymore but a minute or two later and he was entering a fair-sized cave and could see that the two girls had fallen asleep in a patch of moonlight.

That confused Darkstar for a little bit until he saw a crack in the ceiling that was plenty big enough to let in moonlight. Darkstar suddenly realized just how utterly exhausted he was and found himself falling asleep in the patch of moonlight before he had consciously decided to sleep.

Almost immediately, Darkstar was opening his eyes to see a bright, grassy clearing and he sat up as he realized that there were eleven cats looking at him. He looked around and saw that a gray tabby and a small black and white cat were sitting to the side while the other nine cats were sitting directly in front of him.

"Welcome, Schuylar." Schuylar looked around carefully, but there weren't any humans nearby who could have spoken. "Are you ready to receive your nine lives?"

Schuylar looked around again before answering. "Um I, I guess. Nine lives?"

A big white tomcat with black paws strode forward confidently.

"I am Blackstar, the current leader of Shadowclan. As leader of your own clan, you too will receive nine lives and a new name from Starclan. All of the current leaders were called from their sleep to give you one of these lives. With this life I give you compassion. Use it well to care for those weaker than yourself." Blackstar touched Schuylar's forehead with his nose as he spoke.

Schuylar felt a jolt of pain that seared like a blazing pyre for a moment before it faded. He looked up again to see Blackstar leaving and a slender brown tabby tomcat approaching.

"I am Onestar, the current leader of Windclan. With this life I give you diplomacy. Use it to speak with your opponents when fighting is unnecessary." This life felt different but just as painful as the first life had. Onestar turned and left and a ginger tabby tom replaced him.

"I am Firestar, the current leader of Thunderclan. With this life I give you justice, use it well to treat all your clanmates fairly." The pain was accompanied with images of a gray and black tabby, a pale tabby with black stripes, and a dark brown tabby with amber eyes. Firestar left before the images faded and when Schuylar looked again, a blue-gray she-cat with blue eyes was walking forward.

"I am Mistystar, the current leader of Riverclan. With this life I give you patience. Use it well to understand your clanmates better. Especially Blackpaw." Mistystar added with a smile before leaning forward to grant him his life. This one felt thick, like the wait before a storm. Mistystar was replaced by a faded wiry brown she-cat. As she came closer, Schuylar realized that he could see through her and flinched in surprise.

"I am Windstar, the original leader of Windclan. With this life, I give you tireless energy. Use it well to carry out your duties as clan leader." This life brought the sensation of racing through the woods, his paws flying over the ground and he felt that he could outrun any enemy forever. He found himself panting as Windstar left and a thick-furred black she-cat approached. This one was also transparent but it didn't shock Schuylar as much the second time.

"I am Shadowstar, the original leader of Shadowclan." She growled, her eyes narrowed in irritation. "With this life I give you nobility, certainty, and faith. Use it well to lead your clan in the ways of Starclan and the warrior code." This life was as painful, if not more so, than the lives preceding it. Schuylar was just beginning to feel as though he must shout or do _something_ to relieve the pain when it finally began to ebb. As Shadowstar left, she whispered something sharply to the large, faded orange tom who was coming forward. He flattened his ears and responded before continuing toward Schuylar.

"I am Thunderstar, the original leader of Thunderclan. With this life I give you humility. Use it well to put your clan before yourself." With this life, Schuylar saw his camp and clan, and then his view expanded to show the park, the city, the county, the state, the country. Finally he saw the whole world and he realized how small he and his clan were in comparison. When he could see Starclan again, Thunderstar was sitting again and a long-furred silvery-gray tomcat had come forward.

"I am Riverstar, the original leader of Riverclan. With this life I give you mentoring. Use my methods well to teach your younger clanmates." This life made him see his park as a large place full of questions to be answered and he wanted to have those answers so he could share them with others who had the same questions. The last cat to approach was less faded than the last four but more so than the first four. She was a speckled gray and yellow cat.

"I am Sunfish of Riverclan. With this life I give you the loyalty to what you know to be right." This life contained a vision of unfamiliar cats.

"_Pickerelpelt, your brother is at the river." Sunfish warned a dappled gray and white tom urgently._

"_Mother? What are you doing here?" The tomcat asked._

"_I needed to warn you. Lavenderflame is next."_

"_Next? What do you- No. Surely Yellowtail wouldn't." Pickerelpelt's tone took on a pleading note. "I mean, I know he wasn't happy but surely he wouldn't murder them?"_

_Sunfish just nodded, knowing her son would understand. Pickerelpelt stared at her for a moment before running through her non-corporeal form and into the reeds. _

The scene shifted, bringing the river into view._ A pale yellow tom had just dropped a familiar looking gray tabby kitten into the river. The kitten squeaked and spluttered as she fought to keep her head above water._

"_Yellowtail! Help!"_

_The pale yellow tom walked calmly over to the river bank and sat down, watching the kitten struggle. His ear twitched a second before Pickerelpelt leaped at him from the bushes, pushing them both into the water._

"_What are you doing, Pickerelpelt?!"_

"_What am I doing? You're the one drowning innocent kits! Why? And especially, why them? You knew how important they were to me!" Pickerelpelt's voice took on a desperate tone._

"_Exactly. They had bad blood in them," Yellowtail snarled, and then spat out the last word; "Yours."_

"_They would have grown up completely ignorant of their parent's crimes."_

"_With your blood in them, they probably would have committed the same crime you and that _worthless_ Shadowclanner did."_

"_She's _not_ worthless!" Pickerelpelt snarled, lunging at Yellowtail and pushing him underwater._

_As they fought, Sunfish climbed off a rock and slid into the river to retrieve the kitten. The vision faded as Sunfish led her into the sky._

Sunfish blinked sadly at Schuylar before walking away, passing deliberately by the gray tabby and the small black and white cat. Schuylar realized that this gray tabby looked exactly like the kitten in his vision, only older.

"I hail you by your new name, Darkstar." This voice sounded like all of the cats present but at the same time it was one distinct voice. "Your old life is no more. You have now received the nine lives of a leader, and Starclan grants to you the guardianship of Leafclan. Defend it well; care for young and old; honor your ancestors and the traditions of the warrior code; and live each life with pride and dignity."

All eleven of the cats that were in the clearing with Darkstar chanted his name to welcome him as a leader.

He woke up in the cave with the sounds of their cheering still echoing in his ears.

"How'd you get here?" Snaketail asked when she woke.

"I followed you. I had a dream before you left that I was following you and Kay-Nightpaw through the trees and when I woke up I saw you two sneaking out. So I followed you." Darkstar shrugged on the last sentence. Then he continued "I also had an interesting dream just now, when I fell asleep here in this cave."

"Oh, yeah. Congratulations Darkstar. Now you have nine lives." Snaketail smiled as she congratulated her brother.

"Stay out of my head." Darkstar said with a pretend-insulted expression.

"I was invited."

"People aren't allowed to invite you into my head!"

"Do Starclan count as people?"

"Yes. I say so."

"Okay." Snaketail laughed. "We should probably head back to camp." She added, gesturing to the strengthening sunlight that was slipping into the cave with one hand.

"Hey Snaketail? Darkstar?" Nightpaw asked, trying to get their attention.

"Yeah, what is it Nightpaw?" Snaketail asked, turning to look at her apprentice. Nightpaw didn't respond verbally but she held out one of her hands. Snaketail looked closer and saw that it had shrunken considerably and was covered in short black fuzz.

"It kind of hurts. Like a bad sunburn." Nightpaw informed them. As Nightpaw spoke, Snaketail realized that her own hand was hurting also and, when she looked, saw that it was in a similar condition to her apprentices except that her fuzz was gray.

"Do your hands hurt Darkstar?" Snaketail asked, turning around again.

"A little. It seems that I also have whatever it is that you two have." Darkstar held out a hand for Snaketail to look at and she saw that he also had black fuzz.

"Well, let's head back. I'll see what I can do to help soothe the pain back in camp." Snaketail suggested, heading for the exit. Darkstar and Nightpaw followed her back to camp, pausing only once so that Nightpaw and Snaketail could collect some leaves from a dock plant that they passed.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

There were only a few people awake when they returned. Sandpelt, Shiningheart, and Eaglepaw were eating some of the food that Shiningheart and Eaglepaw had brought with them.

"Hey," Sandpelt began when he saw them walk in. "Where were you?" Shiningheart and Eaglepaw looked up to see the answer also.

"We needed to find -" Snaketail began at the same time that Darkstar spoke.

"At the Mooncave."

"What's the Mooncave?" Shiningheart asked.

"Our new Moonplace, like the original clans had Moonstone and Moonpool." Darkstar's answer was confident and certain.

"Why do we need a Moonplace? It's not like Starclan's real." Sandpelt questioned.

"Says who?"

"Schuylar, of course Starclan aren't real. They're just characters in a fictional series of books."

"My name is Darkstar. And if Starclan aren't real then how is it that I have nine lives and can do this." At 'this' Darkstar held out his left hand and tensed the muscles in his fingers. Sharp, curved claws slid from his fingertips. At Snaketail and Nightpaw's shocked expressions, he explained further. "It's like Starclan said, my old life is no more. I am now Darkstar, leader of Leafclan. I noticed them while you two were talking to each other in the Mooncave."

Nobody spoke for a minute or two, and then Darkstar decided to go back to his den.

"Well, I'm tired so I'm heading back to bed."

After he left, Snaketail and Nightpaw went to their den also and Sandpelt, Shiningheart, and Eaglepaw continued talking to each other.

In his den, Darkstar laid down and examined his claws some more. He noticed how the top of each claw just barely brushed the fingernail on that finger. He fell asleep before the sunlight could penetrate his den.

Snaketail was woken up just before sunhigh by voices talking to each other in her den. She rolled over and opened her eyes to see Blackpaw and Dawnpaw talking.

"What are you doing in here?" Snaketail asked, confused and still tired.

"Oh, Snaketail!" Blackpaw said loudly, only just noticing that Snaketail had woken up. "We were hoping you could look at our hands. They hurt."

"Fine." Snaketail sighed, standing up. "What happened?" Blackpaw and Dawnpaw walked forward while Blackpaw spoke.

"I don't know. I just woke up today and they were hurting and they look weird. What should I do?"

Snaketail gently held Blackpaw's hand in her two after Blackpaw gave permission and looked it over carefully. It also was smaller and covered in short, black hairs. However, Blackpaw's fur was slightly longer than Nightpaw's had been.

When Dawnpaw offered her hand, Snaketail also looked at that one and found similar symptoms but Dawnpaw's fur was brown.

"Okay, I'm afraid I don't know what to do but I have the same problem so I'll see what I can do for my own hands and if I find something that works, I'll tell you about it. Okay?"

They both nodded, although Blackpaw seemed a little reluctant, and they left. Snaketail watched them go, then turned and crawled back into her stores, being careful not to step on Nightpaw. She felt a flicker of surprise when she realized that she could fit inside the tunnel a little bit easier now but passed it off as practice. With a bit of searching, she found the dock leaves that she and Nightpaw had brought back earlier.

"I believe you're supposed to soothe pain, right?" Snaketail muttered to the leaves that she pulled out. "Let's see how accurate that is." With that, she brought them into the main den, pulled out her mortar and pestle, and began crushing the leaves.

'It's too dry.' Snaketail thought, looking at the poultice. 'I need some water' She glanced back at Nightpaw but she was still sleeping and after interrupting her sleep last night, Snaketail didn't want to wake her again. So Snaketail put one of her books over the top of the mortar to provide some defense from bugs and left to fetch water from the nearby stream. It didn't occur to her that she had no way to bring the water back to camp until she was sitting at the water's edge. With a sigh, she looked around, hoping to find some moss.

She noticed a speckled cat sitting in a clump of mint-like plants, continued looking, and then looked back. The cat was not sitting behind the plants; the plants were visible _through_ the cat. Snaketail stared, unable to think of how she should react to this, until the cat spoke.

"This plant will work better than the dock you have in camp." She turned to gnaw some of the stalks down as she continued. "It's called skullcap and can also help with anxiety. It will probably put some of your clanmates to sleep for part of the day but there's little danger in this. The only danger comes if someone tries to eat too many at a time."

"Who are you? I saw you at Darkstar's leader ceremony but I didn't hear your name." Snaketail asked as she walked over to collect the plants.

"I am Sunfish, a former Riverclan cat." Sunfish answered, but she was already fading away. Snaketail continued gathering the skullcap before she turned and found some moss that held water well enough to bring it to camp.

Nightpaw was awake when Snaketail got back to their den.

"Oh, hey Snaketail. That dock poultice was yours, right? It seemed a bit dry so I added some water to it. I hope you don't mind."

"What? Where'd you get the water?"

"From one of our water bottles. I couldn't remember which ones were mine but I think I guessed right."

Snaketail pouted and showed the dripping moss she had retrieved.

"I forgot we had water bottles."

Nightpaw tried hard not to laugh but couldn't quite suppress a giggle at Snaketail's expression. Snaketail knew fully well how ridiculous she must have looked so she also laughed a bit before tossing the moss outside the den where it wouldn't get in the way. Snaketail continued with her work while Nightpaw complained about a couple other people who had come in to have their hands checked over. As Snaketail was adding some skullcap leaves to the dock, Nightpaw continued on to say "Oh, and Darkstar wanted to see you."

"Do you know why?"

"No, sorry. He didn't say."

"That's fine. Can you take over with this? Just add a couple skullcap leaves every once in a while. When you think it's done, go ahead and see if it helps with the pain any."

"Okay, I will."

"Thank you, Nightpaw." Snaketail stood up and went to Darkstar's den. She hesitated a moment before calling in.

"Hey, Darkstar? Nightpaw said you were looking for me."

"Yeah, come in." Darkstar called back.

"What'd you need?" Snaketail asked, entering.

"I want to say something to Leafclan about this." Darkstar began, waving one of his hands to the side and letting the claws slide out. "What do you think we should tell them?"

"I don't know. We should probably mention the shrinking hands and fur growth so that they know that everyone has those symptoms. And Nightpaw and I are working on a poultice that we're hoping will soothe the pain."

"Alright, let's go talk to them." Darkstar stood and led Snaketail out into the clearing. He climbed the tree that he had used to call his clan together before while Snaketail collected Nightpaw and sat just outside the medicine den.

"Okay, everybody. Come gather out here!" Darkstar called loudly. After a couple minutes, everybody was either standing or sitting somewhere around the tree. "Alright, obviously everyone has noticed that there have been some changes going on. None of us really know what's going on but our medicine cats are working on a solution to help soothe the pain. I want the people who need it to tell Snaketail and be willing to wait as there will most definitely be a line. The apprentices and younger warriors should be treated first." He dismissed them by climbing down the tree.

"Hey, Darkstar?" Sandpelt began, walking up to Darkstar as Darkstar got down.

"Yeah?"

"I need to go home soon. I told Taba I'd be home today."

"Oh, yeah. Do you want someone to walk with you?"

"Nah, that's fine. I just thought I should tell someone where I was going."

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah… 'bye." Sandpelt turned and left, mostly unnoticed by the rest of the clan.

Snaketail and Nightpaw went straight back to their den after the meeting and Snaketail recommenced her work on the poultice while Nightpaw rearranged things in the den so that there would be room for more people.

Once the mixture had the right appearance, Snaketail dabbed a bit on two of her fingers and rubbed it into her other hand. The lotion had a cool feel and did help fade some of the pain but Snaketail ended up with some plant mulch in her hand that she had to bury outside the den.

"Perfect. Nightpaw, would you mind fetching Wildear, Dawnpaw, and Eaglepaw?"

"Wildear and not Firepaw, Blackpaw, Wolfpaw, or Shadowpaw? I thought we were supposed to do the apprentices first."

"I think what he really wanted was for the youngest to be treated first and Wildear is younger than any of the other four you named."

"Okay." Nightpaw got up to leave.

"Thank you." Snaketail called after her. Nightpaw returned with the three other fifteen-year-olds after just a few minutes.

"Ah, okay. I finished the poultice and it worked really well on me. Do you four need it?" Snaketail asked.

"Four?" Nightpaw asked.

"Yeah, Wildear, Dawnpaw, Eaglepaw, and you. You're the same age as them."

"Okay, thanks." Nightpaw looked down; a little embarrassed to be treated when there were so many other people who also needed it.

Snaketail passed the mortar around and all four of them took a little bit of the lotion. Wildear, Eaglepaw, and Dawnpaw all left as they rubbed it in. Snaketail sent Nightpaw to fetch the next age group as soon as she was done rubbing her lotion in. This group consisted of Silverfire, Shiningheart, Shadowpaw, and Blackpaw, the seventeen-year-olds. As soon as they left, Nightpaw confronted her mentor, whom had not taken any more lotion for her other hand, which still throbbed.

"You made me use the poultice with the other kids my age so you have to also."

"I already used some." Snaketail argued weakly.

"You only took care of one of your hands and a couple fingertips. You need to take care of your other hand also."

Snaketail sighed and looked aside.

"Snaketail." Nightpaw insisted in a warning tone.

"Alright." Snaketail muttered, almost laughing as she thought about the fact that an apprentice was scolding her mentor. Nightpaw watched carefully as Snaketail rubbed some of the poultice into her right hand.

"Now will you please fetch Wolfpaw, Foxfur, and Firepaw?"

"Alright." Nightpaw agreed easily, appeased. She returned soon with the next group.

"Do your hands hurt, Raya?" Foxfur asked as soon as he entered.

"No, they're fine. I already used some of the poultice." Snaketail reassured her boyfriend, feeling rather uncomfortable as she realized that, as a medicine cat, she couldn't keep him. She hid this feeling by passing the quickly emptying mortar around again.

There was still a little bit of the dock-and-skullcap poultice when the eighteen-year-olds were finished. Snaketail hoped it would be enough for the last three people who hadn't gotten any lotion yet. However, when Nightpaw returned with the last group, there were only two people with her.

"Where's Ada- uh, Sandpelt?"

"He needed to go home today. He told Taba he'd be home today, remember?" Darkstar answered.

"Oh, yeah. He didn't want to wait until he got some of the poultice?"

"Apparently not."

"Oh, okay." Snaketail said, blinking, a bit disappointed that he hadn't come to say goodbye. Then she shook her head and continued. "Well, here." Snaketail handed Darkstar and Brighttalon the mortar with the last of the poultice in it.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Sandpelt left the park, feeling surprisingly sad at leaving the camp behind. As he passed by his Aunt Ramona's house, he contemplated stopping by but decided he probably shouldn't due to the fact that he was already late getting home. The walk back seemed fairly quick but he could hear Taba talking loudly even before he got inside the house

"What's up, Hon?" Sandpelt called, entering.

"Adam! Where were you?"

"Sorry, I lost track of time." Taba turned the corner and Sandpelt could see that she'd been crying. He hurried over to her side. "What happened? What's wrong Taba?"

"It's Aron." Taba sobbed before turning and heading towards the other room again. "He's in here."

Sandpelt followed her, growing more concerned by the minute. When he got into the other room, he was met by a terrifying scene. His infant son had shrunk to more than half his size and sprouted fur that was nearly a quarter-inch long.

"No." Sandpelt breathed out. Then he spoke louder to address his wife. "Come on, Taba, I think we should bring him to Schuylar and his friends." Sandpelt picked Aron up as he concluded his sentence.

"No, we should bring him to a hospital!" Taba insisted. "What could Schuylar do about _this_?"

"I just think we should bring him back to Lea- to the others because they've also had odd changes lately and they're dealing with it well."

"I highly doubt that any of them have sprouted a quarter-inch of fur and claws!"

"Schuylar does have claws. He has actual retractable claws, like a cat's. And they've all suffered from shrunken hands and maybe centimeter-long fur of varying colors."

"This is insane Adam. Humans do not grow fur, or shrink, or grow claws, or any of that. Humans cannot change shape!"

"I know. But we are." Taba stared at him for a bit and then began crying. He held Aron in one arm, wrapped his other around Taba, and began walking back to the park.

After everyone was treated, Snaketail left her den and decided to walk around the park a bit. She gave Nightpaw an excuse about getting more medicinal plants but she really just wanted to walk. As she strolled through the trees, she realized how young she was acting but the day was nice enough away from everyone else that she found it difficult to care too much.

She was thinking about the sounds of birdsong and animals rustling in the bushes when she noticed a disharmonious noise. She listened closer and heard a voice that she recognized.

"It's okay, Taba. It's just a little further."

'Sandpelt?' Snaketail questioned in her head. She pushed through the undergrowth to see if she was right. After walking a couple yards, she found herself on a path a few steps behind Sandpelt and Taba.

"Hey, Adam?" Snaketail asked, deciding that it would probably be better to use his regular name with Taba there. Taba squeaked and turned around quickly at Snaketail's question, breaking Sandpelt's grip on her.

"Where'd you come from, Raya!?" She shouted.

"Sorry, I heard you two talking and came to see who it was." Snaketail answered, gesturing to the still-shaking bush.

"Okay." Sandpelt acknowledged. "Can you show us the way to camp? We were heading there but I'm having a bit of difficulty remembering the way." Snaketail glanced at Aron, who was still sitting in Sandpelt's arms.

"Sure. It's this way." Snaketail led them up the trail a little ways before turning to a smaller footpath. They followed this path for a few feet to the stream, which they followed back to camp. Snaketail held up a bit of branch so Taba could crawl through first.

"Do you want me to bring Aron in?" Snaketail offered.

"No, that's fine. I would rather carry him."

"Okay." Snaketail stepped back and Sandpelt crawled into the tunnel, holding Aron close to his chest with one arm. Snaketail followed him in. When Sandpelt and Snaketail got inside, Darkstar was already talking with Taba, whom was loudly explaining what was wrong.

"…And Adam said you have fur and claws also."

"Yeah." Darkstar held out a gently-furred hand and unsheathed his claws. Taba was quiet for a while before she spoke.

"So, what can we do to stop it?"

"Is Aron in any pain? Is it hindering him at all?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Then I figure, why not just leave it. It's not bothering any of us too much."

"I can't just leave him like this!"

"Why not?"

"He'd get teased. He can't be around people if he has fur and claws!"

"Then stay here." The way he said it made it seem as though the answer were perfectly obvious.

"What? But…" Taba's attempts to argue faded as she realized that that was the best solution. "Okay." She finally decided, kind of sadly.

Darkstar turned to look for Brighttalon and when he located him, gestured for him to come over.

"Can you find a good nursery for Taba and Aron?"

"Sure. I think I saw one earlier." Brighttalon walked toward the den with the smallest entrance and moss floor.

"I'm going to share a den with them." Sandpelt told Darkstar as he followed Taba and Brighttalon to the nursery. Darkstar nodded his agreement but Sandpelt had already left. Darkstar and Snaketail returned to their dens at the same time and Snaketail was immediately met by Nightpaw.

"Did you find any herbs?"

"Erm. No, sorry. I got distracted by Sandpelt and Taba."

"Okay. Is Sandpelt's family going to stay?"

"I think so."

"Okay. They'll need warrior names then."

"Yeah. I wonder what names they'll get."

"You could ask Darkstar about it."

"Taba will probably choose her own, like you and I did, and Aron will probably be named by Sandpelt and Taba."

"Yeah, probably." They both drifted off to different duties. Nightpaw put the den back in order and Snaketail looked through the plants and fixed any that were put away in the wrong spot.

The day passed mostly quietly until just after sunset, when Taba realized that Sandpelt, Aron, and she didn't have any food and only one sleeping bag. She complained to Sandpelt, who spoke to Darkstar. He gave them the rest of the bread and lunchmeat that he had brought but knew that they all would need more tomorrow.

'I didn't want to call another meeting' Darkstar complained silently as he climbed the meeting-tree again.

"Hey, can I get everyone's attention?" He called loudly. They all assembled fairly quickly, although Darkstar noticed that Wildear stumbled out as though she had just been woken from a nap.

"I don't know about everyone of course, but I'm running low on food and some people didn't bring any so I think that the people who do have food should put it together for everybody to share. I'll empty my backpack and we can put the food in there." He paused as Snaketail raised a hand and stood up.

"My backpack's already empty if you'd rather use mine." Snaketail offered.

"Alright. Thank you, Snaketail. Okay, Snaketail's backpack will be in the middle of camp so people can put their food into it." Darkstar stopped again as Taba stood up and began speaking.

"Why do you call Raya 'Snaketail'?" Taba asked

"This camping trip began as a game based loosely on the Warriors books so we all chose a warrior name. Raya chose Snaketail, I chose Darkstar, and Adam chose Sandpelt. You should think of one for yourself and one for Aron also."

"What's wrong with our normal names?"

"Nothing wrong with them but we're in a clan now, so we use clan names. If you want to tell me your choices tomorrow instead, you can."

"Fine, I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you. Everyone can go collect their food, and Snaketail, please get your backpack."

"Okay." Snaketail returned to her den, Darkstar jumped down from the meeting-tree, and Sandpelt began explaining things to Taba while the rest of Leafclan went to their dens and collected whatever food they had left.

Snaketail tossed her two remaining apples, her last orange, all three bottles of water, her crackers, and the remaining miner's lettuce into the backpack before bringing it out. She took out the crackers and miner's lettuce after setting the bag down so that they wouldn't get crushed.

Nightpaw passed Snaketail as Snaketail went back to the den. Nightpaw was carrying her remaining full water bottle, a bag of corn chips, some huckleberries, some blackberries, and some strawberries to the backpack.

By midnight, the backpack was halfway full and zipped close to prevent bugs or other animals from stealing the food.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Darkstar woke up rather early the next day, just after sunrise, with his hands hurting again and his ears hurting a little bit. He looked at his hands and found that they had shrunk even more and, he looked closer, the thumbs seemed to be higher up on his wrists. He shook his head, dismissing the change so he could think about other things. He tried to pick up a pencil and notebook but he found that his new hand shape hindered that. He tried again and found that he could hold the pencil and write but it was sloppy and difficult.

'If this goes on, I won't be able to get out my books to read them.' He realized, sadly.

With that thought, he pulled all of his books out of his backpack and laid them in a row on top of his trench coat so that he could easily reach them. Then he stood and went to talk to Snaketail, knowing that she also had books that they might want to access later.

However, when he got there she was still asleep, so he decided he would try again later. He found himself wandering through the camp rather aimlessly until Silverfire woke up.

"Good morning. I ate a fish that looked like your head. Wildear threw it against the wall."

Darkstar looked at her for a couple minutes. "What?"

"I had a really weird dream."

"… I see."

"So, how are you this morning?"

"Well, I didn't eat a fish, but I guess I'm alright. My hands are hurting again but not too bad."

"Yeah, so are mine. And my ears are getting pointy. And I'm hungry."

"There's food." Darkstar gestured to the backpack hat was sitting next to them. "Your ears are pointy?"

"Yeah, just a little bit." Silverfire nodded and opened the backpack, pulling out an orange. "Do you want something?"

"No thanks. I don't like breakfast."

"Okay." Silverfire returned to trying to peel her orange and Darkstar wandered away again, feeling at his ears, which were also a little sharper than they should have been. After struggling with her orange for a little while, Silverfire looked up to call Darkstar back.

"Can you help me with this?" She held up her orange as she asked.

"It'd be easier to peel if you would just use your teeth." Darkstar responded, walking over.

"I don't like how the peel tastes." Silverfire complained, wrinkling her nose.

"Fine. Give it here." Darkstar took the proffered orange and used his claws to rip part of the peel off.

"Show off." Silverfire muttered as she reclaimed the orange.

"Naturally." Darkstar said with a smile. "You should save the peel for Snaketail. She likes them."

"Yeah, I know. It's weird. But sure." Silverfire agreed, setting the torn orange peel parts on her lap.

Snaketail stumbled out of her den a few minutes later, still tired. She nodded in greeting to her clanmates.

"'Morning." Darkstar greeted her.

"I was nice and sweet enough to save my orange peels for you." Silverfire said in a falsely sweet voice.

"I'm so grateful." Snaketail replied sarcastically. Then she laughed and spoke more seriously and accepted the peels. "Thank you though."

As Snaketail began chewing on the last piece of orange peel, a small light brown and white tabby kitten wandered out of the nursery. His short tail twitched and flicked as he looked around with big, blue eyes.

Silverfire, whom was closest to the kitten, picked him up and looked at him more closely.

"Hey, Sc-Darkstar. Is this Aron?" Darkstar walked over so that he could examine the kitten also. He noticed that the kitten had round, human pupils, and his ears were a bit too small and they were lower on his head than they should have been.

"I think so." He decided

"We're turning into _cats_?" Silverfire asked, her voice gaining volume and pitch.

"It seems so."

"But, what about Grandma, and Mom, and Jinx?"

"I don't know. I guess you'll either have to stay here, without them, or you'll have to become a kittypet and live with one of them." Silverfire looked down, saddened.

"Maybe they're changing also." She suggested hopefully.

"Maybe. Once we can walk through the streets without attracting too much notice we'll check on them. Them and everyone else's families. Okay?"

"Can't we call them or something?" Aron wriggled a bit as Silverfire tightened her grip so she loosened it enough that he could get comfortable again.

"I'll see who all has a cellphone when they wake up."

"I have Mom's cellphone with me." Snaketail cut in. "And I think Wildear also has hers."

"Okay. Thank you Snaketail. And I have mine. If you want to call now Silverfire, you can use my cellphone." Darkstar offered, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket and holding it out to her. Silverfire accepted it and walked a few feet away as she dialed.

"Hello. Grandma? … Yeah, I wanted to call and see how everyone was doing…. Okay. Do your hands hurt or anything? … They do? Are they smaller? … Well, my hands have been hurting and I thought they seemed a bit smaller…. Yeah, almost. How's Jinx doing? … Okay. Thank you. …Bye." Silverfire hung up and handed Darkstar his phone back. "We need to go get them. Now."

"Why? What's wrong?" Snaketail asked, approaching her.

"Grandma's changing too. And she hasn't seen Jinx since I went over to your house last time."

"Okay. Let's go." Darkstar decided.

"Can we get there without being questioned?" Snaketail asked, pulling her hair back to show her distinctly pointed ears.

"If we're careful we should be able to." Darkstar answered, heading towards the warriors den to wake up his deputy. He stopped and looked back before he got there. "Oh, but Silverfire, we're going to have to walk." Silverfire groaned.

"Okay." She reluctantly agreed. "I don't like walking that distance."

"I know. But we don't have any other means of transportation."

"Yeah, I know." Darkstar gave a final nod and went into the warriors den. He came out a minute later with a bleary-eyed Brighttalon following.

"So we need you to take care of camp while we're gone." Darkstar was just finishing explaining as they emerged.

"M'kay." Brighttalon agreed.

"Oh, and Brighttalon," Snaketail began. "Can you tell Nightpaw where we are when she wakes up?"

"Sure."

"Thank you." Snaketail turned to follow Silverfire to the exit. "Um, Silverfire?"

"Yeah?" Silverfire asked, turning around.

"Wouldn't it be better to leave Aron here?"

"What? Oh yeah!" Silverfire said, realizing that she was still holding the kitten. "Can you hold on to him Brighttalon?" She asked, handing the kitten to the deputy.

"Alright." He agreed, accepting Aron. "You're all asking things of me."

"Yeah, sorry." Silverfire apologized, already nearly to the tunnel. Darkstar and Snaketail followed her, leaving Brighttalon with Aron and the rest of the clan.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The three of them talked very little as they walked to Silverfire's house, on the opposite side of the city, but they all set a faster pace than they normally would have.

"Grandma?" Silverfire called, opening the door. Her grandma, Pam, came out of her bedroom and into the main room.

"Hey Raya, hey Schuylar." Pam greeted Silverfire's friends first. "Oh, Cassie, What was with that phone call? How did you know that my hands were hurting?"

"I didn't." Silverfire admitted, "I just guessed because all of our hands were hurting too. And you said you couldn't find Jinx?"

"No, I haven't seen her for the past couple days."

Snaketail walked off to see if she might have more success at finding the hiding cat. After searching for a few minutes, she found Jinx hidden under the couch where Pam, with her bad back, couldn't bend to see her.

"Hey Jinx." Snaketail greeted her quietly, holding out a hand. "Will you come out to properly welcome me in?"

Jinx blinked at her once, and then crept forward to sniff Snaketail's hand. Snaketail murmured soft words to encourage Jinx, and Jinx responded to them by coming closer and rubbing her head against Snaketail's hand.

By the time Snaketail managed to convince Jinx to come out, Pam, Silverfire, and Darkstar had finished talking and Silverfire was helping Pam pack things she might need out in the park. They quickly located her stuff and Darkstar and Snaketail helped carry them out to Pam's car. Darkstar also brought out Silverfire's mattress for Pam on Silverfire's suggestion and Snaketail carried Jinx out in her carrier.

Pam drove them down to the park and Snaketail helped her through the park. Darkstar was carrying the mattress again, Silverfire was carrying Pam's supplies, and Snaketail was carrying Jinx's carrier again. Pam complained about the necessity of crawling through the entrance to camp but she managed it. Darkstar had even more difficulty getting the mattress in but he also managed.

Taba was holding Aron and sitting in front of the nursery and Brighttalon was just coming out of the last, empty den.

"Ah, you're back." Brighttalon greeted them. "D'ya need help carrying anything?"

"Nah, I think we're fine." Darkstar responded. "But could you find a den for Pam?"

"Yeah, I already found one. It's over here." Brighttalon walked over toward the apprentices' den but turned before he got to it and led the way into the den next to it. After a fair bit of work and a lot more complaints from Pam, all of Pam's stuff was set up in the den.

"Oh, Schuy-Darkstar!" Taba called as they reappeared.

"Yeah?"

"I… I thought of a name for myself and one for Aron."

"Ah! Good." Darkstar walked towards her. "What are they?"

"My name will be Embershade and his will be Rabbitstride."

"Okay, thank you Embershade. They're both nice names, although Aron's should be Rabbitkit until he becomes a warrior."

"Okay. Thanks." Embershade looked down at Rabbitkit, saddened as she accepted that she couldn't return to her old life. Darkstar hesitated a bit, wanting to comfort her but unsure of how, before he turned and walked to the meeting-tree.

"Let all members of Leafclan gather under the meeting-tree for a clan meeting!" Darkstar called. He had to wait for a while as his clanmates trickled out of their dens. Finally, they were all assembled.

"First, I wanted to welcome our three newest clanmates; Embershade, Rabbitkit, and Pam."

Darkstar paused again as the clan welcomed them.

"On a less happy note, it seems that people related to us are changing the same way we are so we'll go and check on our families. If they're willing to come, bring them here, if not then leave them be. Snaketail will be here to help place the people who do come in. Pam and Rabbitkit will stay with her. Sandpelt will bring Wolfpaw to check on his family. Embershade will accompany Dawnpaw and Wildear to Dawnpaw's house. Brighttalon will walk Blackpaw to her house and check on his on the way back." Blackpaw groaned at the distance she would have to walk. "Silverfire will walk Nightpaw to her place. Foxfur and Firepaw can go together to check on their houses. Shiningheart and Eaglepaw will check on their family. I'll take Shadowpaw to see her family and we'll check on mine on the return trip."

Shadowpaw stood up to speak. "I'm living by myself right now so we don't have to take the time to go to my house."

"Okay, we'll just visit mine then."

Darkstar jumped down from his branch and everyone went to find the people they were assigned to walk with. Before they could leave, Darkstar spoke again. "If you're going in the same direction as another group, stay with them as long as you can and remember to be careful to hide your ears." Everyone waited a moment to insure that Darkstar had finished, and then they began leaving. After a few minutes, only Snaketail, Darkstar, Shadowpaw, Pam, and Rabbitkit were still in camp.

"Will you be okay watching over camp?" Darkstar asked, pointedly glancing at the kitten and Pam.

"Yeah, they're both nice." Snaketail answered.

"If you say so." Darkstar allowed. "Well, we're leaving."

"Okay, see you both later."

Shadowpaw followed Darkstar out of camp and they walked in silence for a minute or two until Shadowpaw spoke.

"Hey, Darkstar?"

"Yeah?"

"I had a question about something."

"What is it?"

"Well, almost everyone is freaking out over these changes, but you seem so nonchalant about it. Why is that?"

"Honestly? I'm scared as hell. These changes are abnormal and painful. But I can't let them see me afraid. It's not a hide what you're feeling thing, at least not just that. They need someone to tell them that it's okay. That we'll get through this. And as I am the leader, I have to be the one to comfort them."

"Okay. You seem to be doing a good job of it."

"Thanks." Darkstar said with a fond smile.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Brighttalon and Blackpaw were the last to return. They had managed to bring Brighttalon's siblings but none of Blackpaw's family came, so Blackpaw went to the apprentice's den as soon as she entered camp. In total, only six new humans and four new cats came; Brighttalon's siblings: Lee, Kendra, and Alex; Shiningheart and Eaglepaw's parents: Loki and Joel; Darkstar, Wildear, and Snaketail's mom: Ramona and the cats that lived with her: Victoria, Tylvetter, Riley, and Easter.

Darkstar went to greet Brighttalon and his family before going to climb the meeting-tree.

"Let all members of Leafclan gather under the meeting-tree for a clan meeting! As I'm sure most of you have realized by now, we're all turning into cats."

Darkstar was interrupted by loud complaints that lasted for several minutes and showed no signs of dying down.

"Shut up!" Darkstar shouted, reclaiming their attention. "If you don't want to believe me, just look at Rabbitkit." Darkstar pointed to where Embershade was holding Rabbitkit, whom was nearly completely cat now. "The point is that we are going to adopt a lifestyle that seems plausible and we're all going to need to take on warrior names. So, the people who have not chosen a warrior name yet will need to pick one. You can have a few minutes to decide on a name before telling us."

"What do you mean by 'warrior name'?" Lee asked.

"'Warriors' is a book series that is about cats who have two-part names. The names are from things that feral cats would naturally come into contact with."

"Would Lightstream work?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good name."

With Snaketail's encouragement, Pam spoke up.

"Raya thinks that I should be called Willowfire."

"M'kay." Darkstar acknowledged.

Then there was a pause as the other as-of-yet unnamed people thought. Then Loki and Ramona tried speaking at the same time. They laughed and Loki continued.

"I will be Hazelwood."

"And I'll be Frostpelt." Ramona added.

Joel waited patiently as Kendra and Alex listed their names; Minnowtail and Hawktalon, before saying his own chosen name; Spruceheart.

While the hybrids were talking, Tylvetter, Riley, and Jinx were playing together while Easter groomed herself and Victoria climbed a bush so that she could look down on the younger cats. However, when Wildear tried saying a warrior name for Easter, Easter waddled to the meeting-tree and with a good jump, and a fair bit of scrabbling, she clambered onto the lowest branch, next to Darkstar. Darkstar looked at her, a bit surprised, then sat back to see what she would do next. She spoke.

"Thank you Wildear, but I would rather pick my own name."

There was instant pandemonium as people panicked, tried to flee, or tried to come closer. The other cats tried getting to higher ground until Darkstar spoke over the panic.

"Stay still! Panicking won't help anything!" They quieted down at Darkstar's calm voice to the point where Darkstar could be heard easily. "What name do you want Easter? And why can you speak?"

"I will be called Badgerswipe and I always could talk. The only difference is that you can hear better now."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that your ears are now better suited to hearing cat-speak."

"Oh, okay. Um, Tylvetter, what name do you want?"

"I like the name you chose." Tylvetter answered. Then he continued, using a simple, matter-of-fact tone. "I'll be Crimsonclaw, the best warrior in the clan."

"I, I'll be Moonleap." Riley decided.

"I, of course, will be Snowlion." Victoria said in a somewhat pompous tone.

"W-what about you, Jinxy?" Silverfire asked, her voice shaking slightly.

Jinx blinked at her, walked over, rubbed her head against Silverfire's leg with a purr, and flopped over onto Silverfire's foot. Then she looked up and answered.

"I like the name you chose also. I'm Tornadoclaw."

"Okay, now that everyone has names we need to decide which position people should have. I think Hawktalon, Lightstream, and Minnowtail should be apprentices; Hawkpaw, Lightpaw, and Minnowpaw. The cats can probably hunt and fight better than any of us so they'll definitely be warriors. As for you four," Darkstar turned to speak directly to Spruceheart, Willowfire, Frostpelt, and Hazelwood. "How good at fighting are you? And would be able to learn to hunt?"

Willowfire spoke first, incredulously. "Hunt? Fight? Why would we need to hunt and fight?"

"We need to learn to hunt and fight because we need a way to protect and feed our clan. Everyone here needs to be able to help the rest of us in some way."

"I don't think I could hunt." Frostpelt confessed. "And I don't usually fight physically."

"That's fine. You can be considered an elder. You'll have to stay in camp more but you'll be exempt from hunting and border patrols."

"Okay, I can do that." Frostpelt agreed.

"I think I'll also be an elder." Hazelwood decided.

"I can fight and would be willing to learn to hunt." Spruceheart said quietly.

"Thank you. So Spruceheart, Snowlion, Moonleap, Badgerswipe, Crimsonclaw, and Tornadoclaw will be warriors; Hawkpaw, Lightpaw, and Minnowpaw will be apprentices; and Frostpelt, Willowfire, and Hazelwood will be elders."

Willowfire looked like she wanted to complain about Darkstar assigning her a position but she decided against it.

"Badgerswipe, Crimsonclaw, Spruceheart, and Moonleap, would you each be willing to accept an apprentice?"

They each waited a moment to decide before agreeing and there were a few questions as to who the fourth apprentice was.

"Thank you. Kendra, you will be known as Minnowpaw until you receive your warrior name. Badgerswipe will be your mentor."

Minnowpaw looked at Badgerswipe as the cat walked forward. Minnowpaw was a little disappointed to be given an obese feline mentor but knew better than to object.

"Would you mind bending down so I can accept you as my apprentice properly?" Badgerswipe asked.

"Oh, sorry." Minnowpaw apologized, crouching so that she was closer to Badgerswipe's level. Badgerswipe sniffed at Minnowpaw's nose and led her to the side.

"Alex, until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Hawkpaw. Crimsonclaw will be your mentor."

Using Minnowpaw's apprentice ceremony as an example, Hawkpaw crouched before Crimsonclaw got over to him.

"Spruceheart, you will be mentor to Lightpaw. I expect you to pass on your patience and knowledge to him."

They opted for a handshake instead of sniffing each other's noses.

"And Blackpaw, I don't think I can mentor you properly so I hereby apprentice you to Moonleap."

Blackpaw had to crouch, the same as Minnowpaw and Hawkpaw had to. As Blackpaw and Moonleap walked to the side, the rest of Leafclan congratulated them.

Darkstar climbed off the meeting-tree while the others were distracted and walked over to Brighttalon.

"Hey, Na-Brighttalon?"

Brighttalon turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind setting up border patrols. I'll work out hunting patrols. Our food won't last much longer with all these new people."

"How will the hunting patrols work? The prey will hear us from miles away."

"I'll send the cats out until we've changed enough that we can manage also."

"Okay." Brighttalon nodded. "You know, some of us have some money. Those people could go shopping."

"Good idea. Could you find them and send them to me?"

"Sure."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"Darkstar!"

Snaketail was jolted from her work by a sudden shout. She hurried from her den to see what the cause of the shouting was.

"Darkstar!" Foxfur called again, holding something in his hands. The rest of his patrol was crowded behind him as they approached Darkstar's den.

"He's out on patrol." Snaketail called to them as she approached. "What's wrong?"

Foxfur turned around and walked quickly over to her, holding his cupped hands out for her to see. There was a young kitten curled up in them.

"We found them near the stream. This is the only kitten but the mother is-" Foxfur cut off and gestured to the cat that Wolfpaw was holding. She was a scrawny tortoiseshell and she had a deep gash on one of her hind legs.

"Oh!" Snaketail squeaked. "Bring her in here. And please bring the kitten to Embershade so she can help keep it warm." Wolfpaw followed Snaketail into her den and Foxfur carried the kitten to the nursery while Shiningheart went to the food bag to see what was left.

"Hang on a minute." Snaketail said, piling her sleeping bag into a sloppy nest-like shape. "Go ahead and put her here." Wolfpaw complied. "Thank you Wolfpaw. If you want to go get something to eat, you can."

"Okay. Are you sure? I can help." Wolfpaw offered.

"No, that's fine. I have Nightpaw to help me. I think she'll be able to help more."

"Okay, thanks." Wolfpaw responded, backing out of the den. Nightpaw appeared from the stores soon after Wolfpaw left.

"So, what's going on?"

"Foxfur's patrol found an injured queen and her kit. Foxfur already brought the kit to Embershade but the queen needs healing."

Snaketail focused her attention on the tortoiseshell as Nightpaw circled around to see better.

"Can you fetch some oak leaf and cobwebs? Maybe some marigold if we have any?" Snaketail asked, grabbing a half-full bottle of water.

"Okay." Nightpaw agreed, getting up and leaving. Snaketail opened the water and carefully trickling some into the wound to clean it out. The cat whimpered and twitched a bit but didn't wake up. Nightpaw returned quickly with the oak leaves, cobwebs, and the mortar and pestle.

"Thank you," Snaketail said, grabbing the cobwebs and offering Nightpaw the rest of the water. "Can you crush the oak leaf?"

"Yeah." Nightpaw worked on that as Snaketail inspected the wound for anything that the water didn't wash out. Nightpaw and Snaketail shared the water bottle for their tasks as they continued. After a couple minutes, Nightpaw spoke again.

"It's not perfect but this should do."

"Thank you." Snaketail accepted the oak leaf poultice and carefully poured the liquid over the tortoiseshell's wound, putting the cobwebs over the top immediately after.

"Snaketail?" Nightpaw began, lightly touching one of the tortoiseshell's paw pads. "I think she might have a fever. She feels a little too warm."

Snaketail put her fingertips on a different paw.

"Hm, yeah. Okay, do we have any feverfew?"

"I don't think we have any in the stores but I saw a patch the other day. I can go get some."

"Okay, please do."

Nightpaw nodded and ran off. While Nightpaw was gone, Snaketail poured some water into the palm of her hand and let it trickle into the queen's throat, using her other hand to stroke the cat's throat, encouraging her to swallow. Nightpaw returned after a few minutes with a handful of small, daisy-like flowers and leaves.

"Thank you, can you rinse the mortar and pestle off and crush those too?"

"I can rinse them off if you'll hold the feverfew."

"Okay, thanks." Snaketail accepted the feverfew and Nightpaw took the mortar, pestle, and water bottle out of the den to clean them off. She returned after about a minute and began crushing the plants.

Snaketail stroked the cat's side and noticed that the ribs were easily felt.

"I'm going to go see if there's any food a cat could eat." Snaketail informed Nightpaw as she stood up. "I'll be back soon."

Nightpaw nodded in acknowledgment but didn't look up from her work. Snaketail moved quickly toward her backpack, not wanting to be away from her patient for very long, and dug through it. There wasn't anything particularly good for a cat but there was one cheese stick, which a cat could eat. Snaketail grabbed that and returned to her den, just as quickly as she left.

"Where am I?" a croaking voice asked as Snaketail entered.

"You're in Leafclan's medicine cat den." Nightpaw informed the voice gently. Snaketail could now see that the tortoiseshell had woken up.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Nightpaw, the medicine cat apprentice of Leafclan. And this is my mentor, Snaketail." Nightpaw gestured to Snaketail before continuing. "What's your name?"

"I'm Rae. Where's Davin?"

"Who's Davin?"

"My baby." Rae tried to get up but was hindered by her injury. "Where's my child?"

"It's okay. He's in the nursery with another mother and her baby. Embershade is keeping him warm." Snaketail assured her.

"I need to see him. Can you bring him here?"

"Yeah, I'll get him." Nightpaw volunteered, standing up.

"Thank you." Rae said, lying down again.

"Do you want some water?" Snaketail offered after Nightpaw left, grabbing one of the more full water bottles

"Yes please." Rae said, reaching out a paw to accept the bottle. She froze as her paw came into her view.

"Wh-why do I have f-fur?" Rae stammered, staring at her leg. Then she commenced to examine her body more thoroughly. "Why am I a cat!?"

"What?" Snaketail said quietly, beginning to understand. "Were you a human?"

"I _am_ a human." Rae insisted.

Nightpaw came in then, carrying the brown kitten. "He's awake." She announced.

Rae tried getting up again to hold him but Nightpaw had to set him next to her instead.

"I'll be back soon." Snaketail said, standing. The cheese stick fell out of her lap, where she had put it before

"Oh yeah, I brought this for you." Snaketail said, unwrapping the cheese and setting it in front of her. Rae ignored it and was questioning Nightpaw when Snaketail left.

Snaketail looked around the camp and checked Darkstar's den but he wasn't back yet so she went out into the woods. She passed Sandpelt's patrol as they entered camp.

"Oh, hey, Sandpelt." Snaketail began

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where Darkstar is?"

"Yeah, I saw him near one of the clearings. He was in the redwood tree with the curved branch that grows near the smallest sandy clearing."

"Okay, I know the one. Thank you."

"Yep."

Snaketail hurried toward the said clearing and Sandpelt led Blackpaw and Shadowpaw into camp. When she got there, Snaketail was relieved to see that Darkstar was just jumping down.

"Darkstar!" She called, still approaching.

"What's up?" Darkstar asked, turning around to face her.

"Foxfur's patrol found an injured queen. I need you to come back to camp to talk with her."

"Lead me to her." He agreed. "Lightpaw, Hawkpaw. We're returning to camp."

Snaketail led the three of them along the quickest path back to camp but it still took nearly ten minutes. The other two border patrols had already returned when they finally got back.

"She's in here." Snaketail informed Darkstar as Lightpaw and Hawkpaw went to their den and Darkstar and Snaketail approached the medicine den. They heard Rae's voice before they entered the den.

"So, how is it that I'm a cat? And how can you and Snaketail understand me?"

"We're not really sure as to how we're becoming cats but it's happening to all of the people here in camp. And we can probably understand you because we were all humans at one point and we're all becoming cats. Real cats can also speak to us now."

"Oh, hello Snaketail. Hello Darkstar." Nightpaw greeted the two older people. "Rae, this is our clan leader, Darkstar. Darkstar, this is Rae. She's also originally a human."

"Hello. Nightpaw said that you had claws?" Rae said, clearly curious.

"Yeah. So far I'm the only one of Leafclan that does but we'll probably all get some before too long." Darkstar responded, holding a clawed hand out for Rae to see.

"Probably." Rae agreed, subconsciously kneading her own claws. Then she looked up. "Leafclan?"

"That's the name that we've chosen to call ourselves by. We also changed our names from regular, human names to two-part clan names."

"What was your original name?"

"Schuylar."

"Schuylar? Do you know someone named Nathan? He recently moved to Bremerton with his family."

"Yeah. He's staying here with us. He's out of camp right now but when he gets back I can send him to you."

"Would you?"

"Yeah." Darkstar got up as he spoke.

"Thank you."

Rae laid down again as Darkstar left but Snaketail came around to talk to her again.

"So how did you get hurt?"

"I -" Rae began, then cut off, looking confused. "I can't remember. Sorry."

"It's okay. If you do remember I would very much like to know."

Rae nodded, still looking a bit confused as she tried to remember, but she laid down and rested for a bit with Davin tucked between her front paws.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Rae was woken by somebody running into the den. She instinctively clutched Davin closer before looking up.

"Nathan?" Rae asked, excited to see a familiar face.

"Rae? How'd you get here?"

"Um, I'm not sure exactly. I woke up here with Snaketail and Nightpaw. What's going on here? Why are we all turning into cats and why are you in a clan?"

"I don't really know the answer to the first two questions but I can answer the third. We began by playing a game based off the Warriors books but when we realized that we were turning into cats we decided that the lifestyle we were pretending seemed plausible enough so we're trying it out."

"You don't suppose that your game is what started this?" Rae waved her tail as she spoke.

"That seems unlikely to me. Snaketail and some of her friends enjoyed playing Warriors often and this never happened before.

"Okay. I just wish we knew what did start our changing."

"Yeah, me too."

Snaketail had been in the back when Brighttalon first entered but she didn't want to interrupt their conversation so she walked quietly around the two of them in order to exit the den.

She looked up toward the quickly darkening sky and found the moon fairly quickly. She was surprised to see that it was nearly half-moon. It had been the new moon the day before they left.

'I'll have to remind Nightpaw that she can't eat tomorrow.' Snaketail thought, judging from the size of the moon that it would probably be exactly half the following night.

Snaketail and Nightpaw spent several hours avoiding their den so that Brighttalon and Rae could spend as much time as possible talking but come moon-high they chased Brighttalon to the warriors' den so that they could get some sleep.

At sunset, Blackpaw took a bag of crackers from the food-bag and quickly ate them before returning to get some more food. Shiningheart stopped her as she pulled out a bag full of strawberries.

"You've already eaten, Blackpaw."

"But I'm still hungry." Blackpaw insisted.

"I imagine a lot of people are."

"I only had a few crackers!"

"Some people haven't eaten at all yet. So, I'm sorry but you can't eat any more."

"Fine." Blackpaw said sharply, turning and walking back to her den quickly. Shiningheart contemplated following her but decided that she couldn't do anything to make the situation better. Blackpaw curled up in her sleeping bag once she got into the den and quickly went to sleep.

"Blackpaw." A gentle voice called her softly. "Blackpaw, wake up."

"Mmm." Blackpaw complained. "I don' wanna."

"You need to. Open your eyes Blackpaw."

Blackpaw reluctantly agreed. Then her eyes opened wide as she realized that she wasn't in the apprentices' den like she expected to be.

A short-furred white tomcat was standing in front of her. He had long, slender legs and tail, light blue eyes, and a long muzzle.

"Who are you?" Blackpaw asked.

"My name is Iceheart."

"A-are you a Starclan cat?"

"You could say that."

"Why am I here?"

"Well, mostly because I had seen the way your clanmates were treating you and I thought you would want someone to talk to. In particular, I saw that you had problems with Schuylar."

"Schuylar? I thought Starclan granted him the name of Darkstar?"

"Some cats saw it worthy to give him a leader's name. He doesn't act very fair towards you. A leader should be fair to all his clanmates, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess a leader should. But he protects us too."

"Does he? When was the last time that he protected you?" Iceheart didn't wait for her to answer. "And then there's Shiningheart. She's the same age as you but she's so willing to act older. Telling you that you aren't allowed to eat your fill. Why should you starve so that someone else can eat well?"

"I- I suppose that seems unfair." Blackpaw conceded, beginning to feel uncomfortable. "I should go."

"Why? I thought you wanted someone to talk to. Everyone in your clan is too busy for you."

"Snaketail's always willing to listen to me."

"She's been so busy lately that she hasn't so much as glanced at you the past several days."

"Like I said, I need to go." Blackpaw backed away a few steps.

"Alright." Iceheart sighed, disappointed.

Blackpaw turned and fled. She hadn't run far before the scenery started fading to black, then she woke up.

"Careful." Firepaw complained, still partly asleep. Then she continued on to explain when she saw Blackpaw's confused expression. "You kicked me."

"I didn't mean to."

"I know. I'm just saying to be more careful next time."

"Okay." Blackpaw got up, impatient to be able to speak with Snaketail.

She hurried over to the medicine den but when she entered, only Rae and Davin were there.

"Where's Snaketail?" Blackpaw asked Rae

"She and Nightpaw went back to Snaketail's house to get some plants from her garden."

"'Kay thanks." Blackpaw said over her shoulder, leaving. She practically ran to the exit, only to be stopped by Darkstar right before she got out.

"Where're you going?"

"I need to talk to Snaketail."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just need to talk to her." Blackpaw said impatiently

"Alright, I'll come with you."

"No, I don't want you to."

"Yeah, but I want to."

"No, I didn't mean-" Blackpaw began, her voice getting louder as she became flustered. "I just wanted to talk to Snaketail alone!"

"Fine." Darkstar said coldly, walking off to let her leave alone.

Blackpaw found Snaketail and Nightpaw easily after she got to Snaketail's house. They were exactly where Rae said they would be; in Snaketail's garden.

"Snaketail!" Blackpaw called, coming around the house and into the back yard.

"What's wrong?" Snaketail asked, grabbing a handful of leaves off her lap and walking over.

"Nothing, I just needed to ask you something."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Um, can I still, rant to you?" Blackpaw asked, not sure how to phrase the question.

"As long as I'm not too busy, sure."

"Oh, okay."

"Do you want to help us?" Snaketail gestured behind her to where Nightpaw was still collecting leaves.

"Okay, what are you doing?"

"We're collecting a few each of marigold flowers, feverfew leaves, chamomile flowers, catnip leaves, willow twigs, and lavender sprigs. Then we'll get some gingko and blackberry leaves from the appropriate plants."

"Blackberry leaves? Don't you mean berries?"

"No, while the berries do taste good, it's the leaves and roots that have medicinal properties."

"Okay. Well, I'm not sure if I could recognize those plants."

"The lavender bush is over there." Snaketail said, pointing to a large bush with pale green needles. "And the willow tree is there. But don't take more lavender sprigs than you can hold in one hand and only take twigs off the willow tree that are smaller than your hand from fingertip to wrist and none that have buds. This way you won't injure either plant too much."

"Okay." Blackpaw went to her task and the time passed rather quickly. It wasn't until Blackpaw lay in her nest that night that she remembered that she had wanted to talk more to Snaketail.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

After returning to camp after gathering plants from Snaketail's garden, Snaketail and Nightpaw went to their den to put away the plants.

"And you remembered to not eat today?" Snaketail asked, brushing dust out of one of the crevices and replacing it with feverfew leaves.

"Yeah. And I'm really hungry for it."

"Sorry, but until Starclan tells us otherwise, we have to assume the orders they gave us when we were full humans still stand."

"The orders they gave _you_. I was never given any such orders."

"Nightpaw. When I spoke to Spottedleaf in that dream she made it clear that the rules were for _any_ human medicine cat."

"Whatever." Nightpaw growled, turning back to put away the lavender sprigs. Then she sighed and spoke again, a little calmer. "Sorry. I'm just irritable because I'm hungry."

"Yeah. I am too. But we can eat tomorrow."

"Right. We should probably head out soon if we're going to get to the Mooncave on time."

"Hm? Is it really that late?"

"Yeah, it's getting dark out."

"Oh! Okay, yeah, let's go." Snaketail stood and offered her hand to help Nightpaw up. Nightpaw accepted it and they left quickly.

The walk to the Mooncave seemed much easier the second time but the moon had still risen rather high before they got in. They curled up together in the spot of moonlight in the center of the cave for warmth and fell asleep.

When they next opened their eyes, Snaketail and Nightpaw were in a grassy clearing near a river. Sunfish was sitting in front of them.

"Welcome Snaketail. Nightpaw."

Snaketail and Nightpaw greeted her and Snaketail continued speaking. "Does Starclan have anything to tell us tonight?"

"Yes much. Starting with your history."

The medicine cats glanced at each other, confused, but Sunfish was speaking again before they could say anything.

"Many years ago, a Riverclan tom turned murderous. He mostly targeted kittens; tossing them in the river and watching them drown. He drowned a lot of kits before his brother stopped him. However Starclan pitied these young cats whom had never gotten a chance to live. So we found young living animals whose spirits were willing to share their body. Most of the host bodies were two-legs so we helped lead them to each other and, when they were ready, we began the transformation necessary to allow the kits to live the lives that were stolen from them."

"So you just thought that you'd stick cat spirits in us and steal our human lives from us!" Nightpaw shouted, furious.

"Every one of you gave your permission."

"Permission? I was what, a year old?!"

"Six moons actually."

"Six moons? So I wasn't even a year old at the time! And you claim I gave permission?"

"You did. Every two-leg host was spoken to by a different Starclan cat and every one of you gave permission."

Nightpaw refused to waste any more words. She crouched and lunged at Sunfish, catching her shoulder with a good scratch before Sunfish could scramble away. Snaketail didn't say anything to show her anger but she also didn't help Sunfish at all and her tail switched back and forth.

Sunfish jumped in the river and yowled at Nightpaw to stop. Nightpaw paused at the riverbank and snarled back. "Why should I?"

"At least explain your anger to me. At six moons even the slowest kit can make decisions of their own."

"**We're not cats! **At six months old a human can't even walk, let alone make conscious decisions!"

"Of course you can. You did. But why are you angry?"

Snaketail finally decided to join in, her tail still twitching. "We are angry because you did to us exactly what the murderer did to these kittens. You stole our lives from us for no better reason than to have us pretend at your life. You might as well have killed us."

"But you're not dead. You're very much alive. And you at least enjoy pretending this life, now you can actually live it."

"I liked pretending this life when I knew I could return to my human life whenever I wanted. But you stole my human life from me so that you could have back your lost kittens. Nothing short of selfish."

"And what is it of your human life that you've lost?"

"I've lost most of my friends and family. And the majority of my clanmates lost all of their family, including Nightpaw."

"I'm sorry for your loss but your clanmates will be your family now."

"Enough!" Nightpaw interrupted. "I'm tired of listening to your pathetic explanations. Why should we welcome your domination?"

"I am aware that it is not simple, I am not pretending that it is. But you need to try to be something experimental."

"Stay away from us! From this day forward you can consider me your enemy. I won't ally myself with the creatures that stole my life from me!" With that Nightpaw turned and ran away from the river. Snaketail followed after only a moment's hesitation. As they ran the world turned to black and they woke up.

Snaketail wanted to ask Nightpaw about what she said but Nightpaw got up and left as soon as she woke, leaving Snaketail no option but to follow. They made good time and arrived in camp just as the sun was peaking over the tops of the mountains.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

The next few days seemed to pass easily enough on the surface but each clan member saw things a little bit different.

Darkstar had been visited at least once by every adult, telling him that they had spent all their money on the first shopping trip and Darkstar knew full well that the food they had would either run out or go bad soon. And he had often worried that his warriors wouldn't change fast enough to be able to learn to hunt before they starved. Badgerswipe and Snowlion had known how to hunt at one point but that was years ago and they'd been living easily since then. All the real cats together managed to catch an average of one mouse every three days. Acceptable as long as Leafclan had other food but it wouldn't keep the clan alive once that other food ran out.

'Snaketail has almost managed to catch a squirrel once.' Darkstar pointed out to himself. He sighed as he realized that that was the closest any of the former humans had gotten to catching something. He stood and walked to his sister's den.

"Hey, Snaketail?" Darkstar called in, entering.

"Yeah?" Snaketail looked up from the paper that she was writing on.

"What are you writing?"

"Oh, I was copying the ceremonies from the Warriors books so that we could access them easily regardless of the weather. I don't want to bring my books outside my den if it's raining. Although it's a bit of a pain trying to write, I'm managing."

"Okay, that makes sense."

"Yeah." There was a moment's silence as Darkstar tried to remember why he had come in the first place.

"Oh yeah, do you think you could still catch a squirrel if you needed to?"

"I probably could on a clear field of grass but it would be harder with so many trees around. Although, maybe if we got two or three people together we could triangulate and corner the squirrel." Snaketail theorized, drifting off into thought. She suddenly got up and retrieved one of her wilderness survival books, opening it to the chapter marked 'Snares and Traps'.

"We might be able to make some of these with materials we have around camp." She suggested.

"Good. Bring that to Brighttalon and tell him that I want him to make some of them, okay?"

"Okay." Snaketail's ear twitched in mild irritation at the order but she still got up and went to do so.

Snaketail passed the message and the book to Brighttalon and was heading back to her den but Nightpaw intercepted her.

"Snaketail, can we talk out in the woods, please?" Nightpaw asked hurriedly, not quite focusing on Snaketail as she spoke.

"Of course, lead the way." Snaketail agreed, worried at her apprentice's odd behavior. Nightpaw walked quickly to the camp exit and ran as soon as she was out. Snaketail followed her, growing more concerned by the minute. After running at least fifteen minutes, Nightpaw finally stopped at the foot of an old birch tree and crouched, trying to regain her breath. Snaketail sat down next to her, also gasping for air. After regaining some oxygen in their lungs, Snaketail spoke.

"So what did you need?"

"Snaketail, I... I had been trying to have a nap before the Gathering tonight but as soon as I closed my eyes I was frozen in a dark, icy cold place and a voice whispered in my ear. It said 'Something lingers in the dark, waiting in a pool of shadow; something tainted leaves its mark in the place it lies unseen; left behind it grows in strength and grows in evil. Lightning splits the angry skies. Cat and serpent locked in struggle, come too near to where it lies. Now it takes her unawares, molds and twists and shapes and severs. Something new is born this night, born in hurt and fear and anger. Something more than mortal hate, basking in her dreams unclean.' I, I'm not certain, but I think it might be referring to the Dark Forest cats.

"'Something lingers in the dark, waiting in a pool of shadow' sounds to me like the cats of the Dark Forest. They didn't deserve to be in Starclan, so they were left to 'linger in the dark'

"I don't really understand what 'something tainted leaves its mark in the place it lies unseen' means but the part 'left behind it grows in strength and grows in evil' could be saying that the Dark Forest cats are getting stronger. 'Lightning splits the angry skies' seems to be referring to a specific night. 'Cat and serpent locked in struggle come too near to where it lies' could be saying that a Dark Forest cat and a snake will fight. But I don't understand the rest of it."

Snaketail nodded and was silent for a bit as she thought.

"Would you mind repeating it?"

"Okay. The voice said  
'Something lingers in the dark, waiting in a pool of shadow.  
Something tainted leaves its mark in the place it lies unseen.  
Left behind it grows in strength and grows in evil.  
Lightning splits the angry skies. Cat and serpent locked in struggle come too near to where it lies.  
Now it takes her unawares, molds and twists and shapes and severs.  
Something new is born this night, born in hurt and fear and anger.  
Something more than mortal hate.  
Basking in her dreams unclean.'"

Snaketail mouthed the words to herself, trying to understand what they meant. Snaketail noticed with concern that the 'serpent' probably didn't mean an actual snake because the Dark Forest would have no reason to attack a snake, which left a cat with the name of a snake; herself, Snaketail. She decided against telling Nightpaw about how she understood that part but a glance at Nightpaw's expression told Snaketail that she had already figured that part out but didn't want to say it any more than Snaketail did. With an intake of breath, Snaketail changed her mind and decided that it would be better to word as much of the prophecy as they knew.

"The serpent probably doesn't refer to a real snake." Snaketail said aloud.

"No, probably not." Nightpaw conceded, looking down. "Be careful Snaketail."

"I will, to the best of my ability." Snaketail agreed. "We should all be careful. It was nice of Starclan to send you the warning though."

"Nice? I didn't ask for it. I told that thief to stay away from me."

"It might not have been Sunfish. And this warning may help save lives."

"... I suppose. But that doesn't mean that I've forgiven Starclan for taking my life from me."

"No, of course not. Anyway, we need to tell this to Darkstar."

"Let all members of Leafclan gather under the meeting-tree for a clan meeting!" Darkstar called from his spot on the meeting-tree. Once Leafclan had assembled, Darkstar recommenced. "Tonight is the full moon and the original four clans would be meeting in peace tonight. However, since we only have one clan we will be copying the methods of a different clan. The full moon will be a chance to make sure that all of our clanmates know what happened over the past moon."

There were a few questions about the use of the word 'moon' from people who had not read Warriors but the people who had read the books explained.

"So, does anybody have anything to say?"

Foxfur raised a hand.

"Wolfpaw has been working really hard. If he keeps up like this, he'll be a warrior before the next Gathering."

There were noises of congratulation and Wolfpaw ducked his head, embarrassed by the compliment. Badgerswipe stood up to speak.

"I'd love to say the same of my own apprentice but I've been spending all day, every day hunting. Give me some time to spend with her, Darkstar!" Her complaint was clearly meant but still in a good-natured tone.

"Sorry but Leafclan needs all the food it can get. You'll be hunting for some time yet but the other warriors might be able to help some with their snares."

"Fine." Badgerswipe sighed, over dramatically. The rest of the Gathering passed by with everyone in good spirits as the warriors bragged about their apprentices. The most serious part came when the elders decided to speak their part at the end of the Gathering.

"Frostpelt and I have been talking and we decided that we should talk to Leafclan as a whole. This seems like the perfect opportunity to do so. Neither Frostpelt, Spruceheart, Willowfire, nor I have read the Warriors books and we are not going through any training to learn the warrior ways but despite all that, we want you all to know how very grateful we are that you invited us into this lifestyle. I'm sure Darkstar knew before he sent for us that Frostpelt, Willowfire, and I wouldn't be able to hunt or fight, but he sent for us anyway. He still gave us a way to cope with these changes. So, on behalf of all the elders of Leafclan, I say thank you." Hazelwood finished her speech with a small bow and sat down. There was a moment of silence before Shadowpaw began applauding and the rest of Leafclan soon followed.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Iceheart!" Blackpaw called, hoping to see the white cat whom she had grown so close to in the past few nights. A glimpse of white fur in the bushes preceded Iceheart's entrance into the clearing that Blackpaw was waiting in.

"Hello, Blackpaw. How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"Oh, about the same as usual. What's going on in Leafclan?"

"Not much. Schuylar has been sending the real cats out to hunt more often which leaves Moonleap less time to teach me. And Snaketail's always whispering with Nightpaw or talking to Schuylar lately."

"Well, Nightpaw is her apprentice after all. And Schuylar is her brother."

"Yeah, but Snaketail said she would still listen to me rant when I needed to!"

"Well, I listen to you."

"Yeah, and that's nice but Snaketail shouldn't have said that if she didn't mean it."

"No, she really shouldn't have. Maybe she's not as good a friend as she thinks she is."

"I don't know." Blackpaw complained, dropping the conversation.

Blackpaw continued talking to Iceheart for the rest of the night, utterly unaware of the eyes watching her from the bushes.

"So you're sure that it's a prophecy from Starclan?"

"Yes Darkstar. I've never had a dream like that before."

"Okay, Nightpaw. How did it go?"

"Something lingers in the dark, waiting in a pool of shadow.

Something tainted leaves its mark in the place it lies unseen-"

"Oh, wait. Could you hang on a moment?" Darkstar moved to the back of his den and grabbed his first book of lyrics. "Does it continue like this;

'Crippled magic, left behind, grows in strength and grows in evil.  
And its casters now would find it has grown foul and obscene.

Lightning splits the angry skies. Cat and serpent locked in struggle.  
Come too near to where it lies, feeding on the lightning's fire.

Now it takes them unawares, molds and twists and shapes and severs,  
'Til within dark magic's lair something rises from the pyre.

Something new is born this night, born in hurt and fear and anger,  
Creature formed of magic's might, born to hate and rend and kill.

Hunter nothing can appease, for it feeds on pain and dying,  
Everything before it flees, lest they be caught by its will.

Something more than mortal hate, spoiled like a thing long left dead,  
Feeding on its own dark rot, basking in its dreams unclean.

Something lingers in the dark, waiting in a pool of shadow.  
Something tainted leaves its mark in the place it lies unseen.'"

"Not quite, but some of the lines are the same. Is our prophecy a part of a song?"

"Yeah, it seems like it. The song is called 'Nightcrawler' and it's by Julia Ecklar Madcoil. What parts are the same?"

"Something lingers in the dark, waiting in a pool of shadow.  
Something tainted leaves its mark in the place it lies unseen.  
Left behind it grows in strength and grows in evil.  
Lightning splits the angry skies. Cat and serpent locked in struggle come too near to where it lies.  
Now it takes her unawares, molds and twists and shapes and severs.  
Something new is born this night, born in hurt and fear and anger.  
Something more than mortal hate.  
Basking in her dreams unclean."

"But why would Starclan use a song for their prophecy?" Snaketail spoke up.

"I don't know. What do you two think it means?"

Snaketail and Nightpaw explained what they understood from it and Darkstar listened attentively.

"Okay, thanks. I don't really know what we can do right now except for waiting and seeing how things turn out. It's nice to get a forewarning I suppose, but I don't see how it helps.

They sat in silence for a moment before Darkstar dismissed the medicine cats.

Snowlion watched as Snaketail and Nightpaw exited Darkstar's den, whispering to each other with worried faces.

"Snaketail, I want attention!" Snowlion demanded, knowing that Snaketail usually was calmer and more relaxed after petting her fur. Snaketail smiled happily at Snowlion and immediately went over to her and nuzzled her head and shoulders gently. Snowlion twitched her whiskers in amusement at how backwards her friend was when Snaketail began to pretend at purring by using saliva and air to create vibrations in her throat.

"Snaketail." Nightpaw called, only slightly annoyed. "We have work to do."

"But," Snaketail began, turning to look back at her apprentice. Then her shoulders sagged and she changed direction. "Alright. I'm sorry my queen. But Nightpaw's right; I do have work to do." Snowlion muttered something discontentedly then sighed.

"Fine. But you need to spend more time with me soon. I haven't sat on your lap in days."

"Of course. I love spending time with you." Snaketail's voice lowered in affection. "I love you, my beauty." Snaketail stroked Snowlion's back one last time before following Nightpaw to the medicine den, utterly unaware of the multiple hurt eyes focused on her back.

Brighttalon stood up thoughtfully, having seen how Snaketail, Nightpaw, Snowlion, Blackpaw, and Foxfur reacted to the interaction. He could understand Snowlion's and Snaketail's affection, they'd known each other for years. And he could understand Nightpaw's irritation at being abandoned in the middle of their conversation. And he could understand Foxfur's hurt feelings, his girlfriend hadn't even noticed him and he wasn't particularly friendly with anyone else in camp. But he couldn't see why Blackpaw was so hurt, she had plenty of other friends in camp and she hadn't known Snaketail for half as long as Snowlion had.

"Whatever," Brighttalon decided out loud. "It's not my problem. I have patrols to send out. Hey Foxfur!" Brighttalon walked towards Foxfur and continued speaking. "Will you bring Wolfpaw and Hawkpaw to patrol the roadside border." His tone made it clear that it was not a question.

"Sure." Foxfur got up and went to fetch the apprentices but Brighttalon noticed that he glanced towards the medicine den before leaving. Once Foxfur's patrol had left, Brighttalon sent Sandpelt with Eaglepaw and Minnowpaw to patrol the lakeside border and Spruceheart with Lightpaw and Wildear to patrol the city-side border before retrieving Dawnpaw and Blackpaw and patrolling the field-side border.

Darkstar came out of his den just as Brighttalon and his patrol were leaving.

"He only sent out border patrols." Rae called out helpfully.

"Okay, thanks."

"Oh, and Nath- Brighttalon said that I had to choose names for myself and Davin."

"You should but you can think about it for a while if you'd like."

"Thanks but I've already chosen. I'll be Rosethorn and Davin will be Dustkit. But when he becomes a warrior, I want him to be called Dustshade."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind when the time comes."

"Thank you." She replied.

"FOX!" A sudden scream interrupted them. They both ran towards the camp entrance, where the shout had come from. Willowfire came scrambling in between them, fleeing for her den as a huge fox ripped its way through the entrance tunnel. Darkstar had known that they'd been shrinking for the past several days but with little to compare themselves to, he hadn't known how much. He was alarmed to see now that a red fox was over half their size.

The fox caught Willowfire's leg just as she got into camp so Darkstar and Rosethorn leapt at it. Darkstar clawed at the creature's eyes and Rosethorn bit at its ears. Their furious yowls brought the attention of everyone else at camp and the fox let go of Willowfire and fled when faced with six animals that were all bigger than it and a cat.

"Fetch marigold, oak leaf, cobwebs, and thyme." Snaketail said, gesturing to Nightpaw as she moved forward to check on Willowfire. "Jul-Firepaw, do you know what St. John's wort looks like?"

"Yeah." Firepaw assured her.

"Good, there's a patch about two feet in from the official park entrance and to the right. Please get me some leaves."

Firepaw nodded and immediately ran off.

"I'm going with her." Shiningheart informed the others as she chased after Firepaw.

Snaketail crouched next to Willowfire and inspected the wound. The bite wound was deep and seemed to be somewhat pulled on one side. Snaketail realized that that must have happened when Willowfire was first caught and was trying to struggle away.

"What are you all talking about?" Willowfire asked, her voice high-pitched in pain and fear. "We don't need any of those things! Doesn't anyone have a phone? Call someone! Call the hospital!"

"We can't." Darkstar interrupted shortly. "Have you forgotten the fact that we're half the size of any human and turning into cats?"

"But…No. No!" Willowfire continued repeating 'no' getting progressively louder and more high-pitched. Nightpaw returned with the plants and gave Snaketail the thyme first.

"Thank you Nightpaw." Snaketail said before turning back to Willowfire. "Willowfire, will you eat some thyme? Willowfire? Lavender please." Snaketail lowered her voice and turned her head briefly to speak to Nightpaw for the last sentence. Nightpaw set down the other plants and went back to get the lavender.

"Willowfire." Snaketail repeated, more pointedly but not shouting. "Pam." This time Willowfire paused. "Will you please eat some thyme?"

"Some what?"

"Thyme. A plant that is sometimes used in cooking."

Willowfire looked suspiciously at the short branch of thyme that Snaketail gave her before eating a leaf.

"Please eat more."

Still looking suspiciously at Snaketail, Willowfire ate the rest of the thyme.

"Now may I treat your leg?"

"No! Call a hospital! I won't have some ignorant child putting plants on my injury."

Snaketail's eyes showed a bit of hurt before they flamed into anger.

"I am not ignorant and these plants will heal you. _If_ you give them a chance."

Willowfire pursed her lips and turned away. Darkstar began to say something but Snaketail, not realizing this, continued speaking.

"You're acting like a petulant child. I'd expect better from someone your age."

"Hey Snaketail, do you have anything that could make her sleep?" Darkstar asked.

"N- Yeah. I have skullcap. The leaves can help induce sleep." Nightpaw came back with the lavender as Snaketail was speaking so she set down the lavender and went back to their den.

"What! You can't put me to sleep! I have rights!"

"Shut up." Darkstar said irritably. "If you think you can make it, you're welcome to walk to your car and drive to the hospital." He waved his arm to the entrance and Embershade and Rosethorn stepped to the side so that the path was clear. Willowfire alternated looking at the entrance and at Darkstar's unyielding gaze a few times. Finally, she dropped her gaze and accepted the lavender that Snaketail was holding out to her. She also quietly ate the skullcap leaves and the St. John's wort leaves when Nightpaw and Firepaw and Shiningheart brought them.

After Willowfire was asleep, Snaketail chewed the marigold and oak leaf together, not wanting to take even more time to fetch her mortar and pestle. She spat the mess into her hand and sent Nightpaw off again for water to clean the wound out. Nightpaw ran and returned much quicker because she didn't need to search for the water bottles. Nightpaw opened it and handed the bottle to Snaketail. Snaketail poured some water over the wound before dribbling the juice from the marigold and oak leaf into the wound and binding it with the cobwebs.

"We need to bring her to my den. She'll need to get plenty of rest and I want to be able to keep an eye on her." Snaketail said.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Darkstar counteracted. "She has trouble sleeping without a mattress even when she's healthy. However, if the other elders don't mind you could sleep in there until she gets better."

"Okay. Where _are_ the other elders?"

"They had all decided that they wanted some time to think so they each went off on a separate walk. That's also why Willowfire was out of camp." Rosethorn informed everyone else. "I think that they were feeling cooped up."

"Okay. Mom and Hazelwood should be okay on their own." Darkstar decided. "Could you help me carry Willowfire to her den, Embershade?" Darkstar asked.

"Alright. Rabbitkit is sleeping right now so he should be okay without me for a little while."

They carefully picked Willowfire up with Darkstar supporting her head and shoulders and Embershade supporting her legs. Snaketail and Nightpaw buried the solid marigold and oak leaf bits and returned to the medicine den. Snaketail retrieved her sleeping bag and a book before going to the elders' den and laying them out.

Darkstar was just leaving the elders' den as Snaketail entered.

"She's on her mattress already. She'll probably be asleep for a while."

"Okay. I just want to have these ready for tonight."

"Yeah. I'm going to find Silverfire."


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Darkstar went straight from the elders' den to the entrance of camp. Without thinking about it first, Darkstar bent down and sniffed at the ground. He only realized what he was doing when he recognized Silverfire's scent and began to follow it.

'Oh well. It's odd but if it works then that doesn't matter.' He decided, continuing to follow the scent trail. After following the trail for several feet, he heard Silverfire and Wolfpaw talking.

"Hey, Silverfire." Darkstar called, announcing his presence to them. "I need you to come back to camp."

"Why?" Silverfire asked, turning to face him. "Wolfpaw and I were talking."

"Willowfire got hurt. A fox found her when she went on a walk and it chased her back home."

Silverfire and Wolfpaw were running to camp before Darkstar finished speaking. Darkstar chased after them and would have caught up except that he tripped over a root. As he fell, his claws instinctively unsheathed and he painfully caught one on a medium-sized rock.

"Ow." He complained quietly, turning to glare at the offending stone. Then he noticed something odd about it. He looked closer and saw that a little over half the rock was covered in frost even though the other half had been warmed by the hot July sun. A small leaf was on the middle of the stone's surface but Darkstar's claw had split it nearly in half. The frost around the leaf looked distinctly cloud-shaped.

"Weird." Darkstar muttered, getting up and continuing to walk. He stopped again when he felt something brushing against the backs of his legs. He turned to look and grabbed at the long, slender, black tail that was swishing gently behind him.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It's just a tail. I already have claws so why shouldn't I have a tail?" He asked out loud, staring at it incredulously. He abruptly remembered why he had left camp and recommenced chasing after Silverfire and Wolfpaw. By the time he got back to camp Snaketail was already explaining things to Silverfire outside of the elders' den and Wolfpaw was standing next to Silverfire, holding her hand.

"I've done all I can and she'll be fine. Provided it doesn't get an infection, but the marigold and oak leaf juice should prevent that. She just needs time." Snaketail finished positively.

Silverfire nodded but she still looked concerned. "Just take good care of her Snaketail."

"You know I'll do my best."

"Mm-hmm." Silverfire agreed, allowing Wolfpaw to lead her away.

Snaketail watched her friend leave, concerned, but decided that Wolfpaw would be better able to comfort her than Snaketail would. She was about to turn around when she realized something odd about Wolfpaw and Silverfire; they both had tails. Snaketail stared for a moment then twisted to check and found that she also had one. Her tail was thick with sleek gray fur and darker gray rings. She glanced around camp and noticed that quite a few people seemed to be finding their tails.

Snaketail abruptly thought of Darkstar so she looked at her hand and concentrated on tensing the muscles. Just as she was about to give up, sharp claws slid out from just beneath her fingernails. It hurt a lot but not as much as she'd have expected considering the fact that long, sharp claws were forcing their way out of her skin.

Snaketail glanced over her shoulder at Willowfire and set off to find Darkstar. She found him after a minute or two in his den.

"Hey Darkstar?"

"Yeah?"

"May I come in?"

"Sure."

Snaketail entered and was somewhat surprised to find Brighttalon there already.

"I thought you were on patrol." Snaketail commented.

"I was. We just got back and I was reporting to Darkstar. Foxfur and Hawkpaw also came back with us after Wolfpaw left them behind." Brighttalon responded before adding. "And I think Foxfur was looking for you."

"Okay, thank you. I just wanted to suggest to Darkstar that he point out the newest changes. I saw that several people were noticing their tails."

"Okay, I'll think about it. If they seem panicky I'll talk to them." Darkstar answered.

"Chang_es_?" Brighttalon asked. "We only got tails."

"I have claws also now." Snaketail informed, glancing over as Darkstar pretended to pout at no longer being the only one with claws. Brighttalon looked at his fingers and tried tensing them. His claws appeared sooner than Snaketail's had and were a fair bit longer.

"Well, like I said, if they seem panicky I'll talk to them."

"Alright, thank you. Oh, and Brighttalon? Rosethorn wanted to see you."

"Okay. Thanks."

"Yeah." Snaketail said, acknowledging his gratitude as she turned to leave.

"Wait, Snaketail." Darkstar called before she left.

"Yeah?"

"I can guess what Foxfur wants to talk to you about and you should know that I'm not going to insist that you follow the usual path of a medicine cat. We are originally humans after all."

"Thanks." Snaketail said gratefully but she avoided Darkstar's gaze, having already decided to obey Starclan.

After leaving Darkstar's den Snaketail went straight for the warriors' den, where Foxfur was talking to Snowlion.

"... I know she's busy and all but I thought she invited me because she wanted me to be here with her." Foxfur was saying.

"As you said," Snowlion responded, pausing in her grooming. "She's busy. And she's always liked doing things alone. You should have seen her when she was younger, wouldn't let anyone even see what she was doing until she'd perfected it. She's relaxed a lot in that regard over the years."

"It sounds like you two are really close." Foxfur said, slightly envious.

"What would you expect? I've known her since I was a year old. Her human friends came and went and she argued with her family. I was constant, always there to catch her tears."

"And the one I was always willing to cry in front of." Snaketail added, her gaze soft as she looked at the natural feline.

"Snaketail!" Foxfur acknowledged, standing.

"Hey." Snaketail greeted him with a happy smile. "Brighttalon said you were looking for me?"

"Yeah. I was- I just wanted to know-" Foxfur cut himself off again, took a breath through his mouth and restarted. "Do you want to continue going out? Silverfire let me borrow the first few Warriors books and I know now that the medicine cats in the books don't usually have mates so I need to know; did you become a medicine cat so that you could break up with me?"

"Of course not!" Snaketail paused and began again quieter. "I became medicine cat because I already knew which plants could heal, I enjoy watching people get better and knowing that I helped them there, and because I already knew Starclan existed and they called me to be a medicine cat. However, you are right in that we shouldn't date. I love you more than I can say but I need to obey Starclan's rules. I'm sorry."

"Alright, that's fine." Foxfur said, his voice hoarse. He looked up and towards the entrance to camp. "I told Wolfpaw, Firepaw, and Silverfire that I'd hunt with them."

"Okay, have fun." Snaketail watched him walk away sadly before turning to go back to her den.

"Snaketail." Snowlion spoke up before Snaketail could leave.

"Hmm?" Snaketail looked back at Snowlion smiling but the sorrow hadn't completely left her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"I will be. But I need to check on Willowfire right now."

"I'll come with you."

"Okay. Thank you, my Queen."

The sun was setting as Snaketail and Snowlion entered the elder's den so after making sure that Willowfire was sleeping okay, Snaketail climbed into her sleeping bag and Snowlion curled up next to her.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Snaketail was woken in the middle of the night by a kick to her shoulder. As she woke she became aware of whimpering and gasping. Snaketail jumped up and got tangled up in her sleeping bag, dislodging Snowlion.

"Hey." Snowlion complained.

"Fetch Nightpaw." Snaketail ordered Snowlion. Snaketail crouched next to Willowfire as Snowlion hurried to obey her. "And tell her to bring more marigold petals."

Snaketail's rushed orders woke the other elders and they lined up behind her to better see Willowfire.

"Mom? Can you help me hold her still?" Frostpelt moved forward immediately and leaned over Willowfire, holding her upper body still. Snaketail pinned Willowfire's legs still and rolled up the pant leg so that she could better see the injury. Even through the cobwebs Snaketail could see that the wound was swollen and red.

'I can't heal this!' Snaketail thought, terrified at the sight of the infection. Then she mentally shook herself, pulled her hair back, and pulled the cobwebs off. 'Okay, I'm going to need water and more than just marigold. Marigold, oak leaf, and plantain are good for preventing infection but what draws infection out? I think plantain can do that. And she'll need something for pain, the Warriors books say poppy seed but I don't know how accurate that is. Didn't I read somewhere that willow can help with pain?'

Nightpaw came in while Snaketail was thinking and set the mortar full of marigold poultice next to Snaketail.

"What else do you need, Snaketail?"

"Water, plantain poultice, and willow bark. I can hold the marigold poultice so that you can use the mortar again."

"Thanks." Snaketail scooped out the marigold poultice and Nightpaw took the mortar back to the medicine den. While Nightpaw was gone, Snaketail sent Hazelwood to wait outside and brushed her hand over Willowfire's injury, almost recoiling at the heat. Nightpaw returned quickly and Snaketail poured some water out of the water bottle onto Willowfire's leg, cooling and washing it. She then mixed the marigold with the plantain and rubbed the mixture on the wound, allowing the juices to seep in before brushing the leaf and petal bits off. Then she laid a strip of willow bark across the injury and hoped that it would work topically.

"Nightpaw, may I ask you to retrieve one more thing?"

"Of course." Nightpaw jumped to her feet.

"A clean, dry piece of fabric. I should have a clean shirt somewhere in the den. I don't know how clean our cobwebs are but this wound needs to be bound."

Nightpaw didn't take the time to answer; she set off running back to the medicine den. She came back after a minute, carrying a black t-shirt and handed it to Snaketail, who accepted it, turned it inside out, and wrapped it tightly around Willowfire's leg.

"Not so tight, Ray-Snaketail." Frostpelt suggested. "You don't want to cut off blood flow to her leg."

"Okay, yeah. Thanks Mom." Snaketail loosened the shirt again and tied it closed. "You can let her go now. I'm done." Frostpelt released Willowfire and Snaketail stood up and stretched. "And Nightpaw, could you let Hazelwood know that it's okay for her to come back in as you leave."

"I'd rather stay here but I can fetch her. I want to be nearby if there are any more complications." Nightpaw responded before retrieving Hazelwood.

"Sorry for sending you outside Hazelwood, I wanted to make sure Nightpaw and I had enough room."

"Oh, that's fine, Snaketail. Maybe I could help you next time."

Snaketail's tail twitched before she could stop it but she answered diplomatically. "Maybe. Hopefully next time it won't be so urgent though."

Before much longer, all five of them were sleeping peacefully.


	17. Chapter 16

(I don't usually like putting unrelated notes in my stories but the other day an anonymous reviewer posted some comments that I found pointless and distracting. Regrettably, because they were not signed in, I cannot delete these comments so I am limited to asking anyone who might be inclined to add more of these to please not.)

**Chapter Sixteen**

Darkstar opened his eyes the next morning and got a face-full of sunlight. He groaned and turned over.

'I need to fix that.' With a yawn, Darkstar stretched and got up. He shook himself fully awake and tried taking a step forward. He fell over and caught himself with his hands, putting them fully in his line of vision. They were much smaller than they had been the night before and covered in a thick layer of fur – thoroughly paws.

He crawled out of his den on all four feet and ran to the warriors' den, finding it surprisingly easy to adjust to the new walking pattern. Once there, Darkstar weaved through the sleeping bodies and found Brighttalon's nest. It was empty. Darkstar's ears flattened in irritation as he realized that he went to the trouble of climbing over the warriors for nothing. He made his way back out and checked the nursery. Brighttalon was sleeping in there, curled around Rosethorn and Dustkit. Sandpelt was also sharing the nursery with his mate and kit.

'I should probably talk to them both about the nursery being for queens and kits. Oh well, the queens don't seem to mind and this way they can get at least a little more privacy.'

"Brighttalon!" Darkstar hissed, poking his friend with a paw. "Brighttalon!"

"Mm. What?"

"Wake up. I need to talk to you."

Brighttalon unfurled and stretched his back, his silver fur shining lightly in the dim light.

"What?"

"We're cats."

Brighttalon's eyes cleared a bit at that and he examined Darkstar before turning and looking over himself.

"Why?"

"I don't know. But Snaketail might."

"Why would Snaketail?"

"She's spoken with Starclan more recently than me."

"Oh, right." It was clear that Brighttalon was still having difficulty accepting that Starclan was real. The two of them left the den and began walking towards the elders' den, where Snaketail was sleeping. The camp was becoming more active as the clan woke up and they were stopped a few times as people asked him what was going on. Foxfur spoke with them the longest and about something completely different.

"Hey Darkstar?"

"What?"

"I've taught Wolfpaw everything I can. I think he should be given a full name."

"Okay, I'll think about it." Darkstar said, nonchalantly, continuing toward the medicine den. Foxfur frowned at him but didn't say anything, choosing instead to turn and go talk with Firepaw, the only person in camp that he'd known well before he met Snaketail.

"Snaketail?" Darkstar called quietly into the den before entering.

"Yeah?" Snaketail asked, mid-yawn.

"Do you know anything about why we're all turning into cats?"

"Oh right! I forgot to tell you. Sunfish did tell me something."

"Wasn't Sunfish one of the nine cats who gave me a life?"

"Yeah, she gave you your ninth."

"Okay, what'd she say?"

"We're all sharing our bodies with dead cats."

"What?"

Snaketail laughed before answering. "Some Riverclan cat murdered a bunch of kittens and Starclan put the souls in willing host bodies – us. Starclan –"

"Don't understand that six month old humans can't make conscious decision!" Nightpaw spat, interrupting. Snaketail cleared her throat quietly and looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"Sunfish told us that we all gave permission but she did seem to think that a six month old human should be just as developed as a six month old kitten. Starclan decided that now was the time to –"

"Steal our lives." Nightpaw muttered. Snaketail glanced sharply at her before finishing her sentence.

"Give the lost kittens the life they should have had."

"Okay, well I'm going to tell the clan the more diplomatic version. I want to keep them content."

"Probably a good idea." Snaketail agreed.

"Yeah, probably." Nightpaw muttered, annoyed.

Darkstar and Brighttalon left the den with Snaketail and Nightpaw trailing behind. The four of them walked straight to the meeting-tree and Darkstar jumped up to his usual branch. Brighttalon crouched at the base of the tree and the medicine cats sat two tail-lengths away. Darkstar called the clan together and they approached quickly. Foxfur sat next to Wolfpaw and looked pointedly at Darkstar. Darkstar ignored this and began speaking.

"I called you together to explain our transformations. I don't understand all of it but I can tell you what I do know. Years ago, a cat decided to murder several kittens. Starclan wanted to give them a chance to live the lives that they would have if they'd survived so they found host bodies to store the kitten's souls in until Starclan could bring them together and change the host bodies into cats. Apparently Starclan asked and the spirit already inhabiting each host body gave their permission. This all happened when we were very young."

"How young?" Shiningheart asked curiously.

"The youngest of us were six months old."

There was a lot of muttering after that statement as people wondered about whether or not people could make decisions that young.

"That's as much as I know." Darkstar continued once he could be heard "If I learn more I'll tell you." Darkstar slid down and was quickly approached by Foxfur. Before Foxfur could say anything, Darkstar spoke.

"I can't give him his name yet."

"Why not?"

"I still need to assess him – to see how well he was taught. And that meeting was an emergency, intended to keep everyone calm. I'll give him his name soon."

Foxfur wavered, wanting to remain angry but knowing that Darkstar's point was a good one.

"Alright. When can you assess him then?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe later today, maybe tomorrow. For now could you and Wolfpaw take Shiningheart and Shadowpaw on border patrol?"

"Okay." His voice was still reluctant but he turned and left, going to find Shiningheart, Shadowpaw, and Wolfpaw.

Darkstar watched him go for a little bit before turning around. Brighttalon was right behind him.

"Hi." Darkstar greeted him to cover his surprise at being snuck up on. "What'd you need?"

"I thought it was my job to send out patrols?"

"Yeah. Sorry?"

"And I was wondering if I should take some warriors with me to see if we can find the fox that attacked Willowfire."

"Yeah, track its scent but don't attack it unless it's too close to camp."

"Does the field-side border count as too close?"

"It's the farthest border from camp."

"Exactly."

"No. This side of the river counts as too close."

"Fine."

"Thank you."

"Mm-hmm." Brighttalon walked off and found Sandpelt and Spruceheart and they left camp, stopping once to talk to Dawnpaw when she came to see what they were doing.

Once they were gone, Darkstar located Moonleap to ask him to go hunting. He expected Moonleap to be talking with his best friend, Crimsonclaw or at least his apprentice, Blackpaw so he was surprised to find him sharing tongues with Tornadoclaw.

"Oh hello Darkstar!" Tornadoclaw said brightly, jumping up with her tail sticking straight up. Moonleap jumped up just as quickly but he jumped higher, startled at Darkstar's sudden appearance.

"What did you need, Darkstar?"

"I was wondering if you could go hunting. We need more fresh-kill."

"Alright. Um, can Tornadoclaw come also?"

"Don't see why not."

"Thank you."

"Thanks!" Tornadoclaw also said, wrapping her tail around Moonleap's as they left.

"Hey Wildear!" Darkstar called as she walked past.

"Yeah?" She asked, turning around.

"Could you bring Dawnpaw and Blackpaw on border patrol?"

"I don't want to. I don't mind taking Dawnpaw but I don't like Blackpaw."

"Could you bring Eaglepaw or Minnowpaw then?"

"I could bring Minnowpaw. Will Badgerswipe also come?"

"I need her for hunting."

"Okay." Wildear checked the apprentices' den for her friends and they also left together.

Darkstar managed to form two more border patrols and sent all the natural cats out to hunt. Silverfire brought Blackpaw and Firepaw on patrol and Darkstar took Hawkpaw, Lightpaw, and Eaglepaw to the field-side border. This left Embershade, Rosethorn, Hazelwood, Frostpelt, Snaketail, and Nightpaw to protect the camp, the kits, and Willowfire.

'Most of them aren't particularly good at fighting but they should be enough to defend the camp.' Darkstar decided as he led the three apprentices across the river.

By the time Darkstar's patrol returned home the sun was setting and Hawkpaw – the youngest – was noticeably dragging his feet. The other patrols had returned before him and were already relaxing and talking to their friends. Darkstar sent the apprentices to fetch food and went to look for Brighttalon. He found him quickly, talking to Rosethorn with Dustkit playing with Rabbitkit in front of them.

"I need to go. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Brighttalon asked Rosethorn when he noticed Darkstar approaching.

"Okay, see you in a bit." Rosethorn turned to watch the kits as Rabbitkit leaped on Dustkit and pinned him down.

"Did any of the patrols have anything to report?" Darkstar asked when Brighttalon was close enough for easy conversation.

"No. Everything was clear and we couldn't find the fox. Spruceheart caught a scent – which was weird – and it led us to the river but we couldn't find anything other than that on either side of the river. Sandpelt thinks it probably swam up or down the river for a ways. Do foxes swim?"

"Yeah, if it knows it's being chased."

"A lot of us attacked it so it is possible."

"Yeah. Okay we'll keep an eye out for it but I don't want to send people hunting it too often. We need you to patrol and train your apprentices."

"Okay." Brighttalon returned to Rosethorn and Darkstar went to his den to read one of the Warriors books that Snaketail had lent him.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

The next morning Darkstar woke to find that he'd fallen asleep partway through The Darkest Hour. He glanced at the page and found that he was at the part where Firestar was just getting his nine lives. He read through the ceremony again and laughed as he realized that Firestar must have lost a life. Firestar had visited the moonstone with his original one life then Starclan gave him nine more lives but he left the moonstone with only nine lives. His nine given lives plus his original meant that he should have had ten total lives. Starclan killed him.

'I should tell someone that Starclan killed me.' Darkstar decided, still smiling. But when he left his den he saw Foxfur and Wolfpaw speaking and remembered his promise to Foxfur. He altered course and walked over to them.

"Hey Wolfpaw, are you ready for an assessment?"

"What will you be assessing? Foxfur taught me how to fight like a human but none of us know how to fight like a cat or how to hunt."

"I'll test you on some of the basic survival skills. Climbing, agility and speed, and instinctual fighting."

"Okay." They both stood up and began walking away.

"Good luck Wolfpaw." Foxfur called after them.

"Thanks." Wolfpaw responded over his shoulder and he followed Darkstar out into the forest. They walked a little ways in silence as Darkstar looked for a good tree for Wolfpaw to climb. He finally found one with a bird's nest several branches up so he turned to speak with Wolfpaw.

"Okay. Do you see the branch with the bird nest?"

"Yeah."

"I want you to climb to the branch above it and back down. Do you think you can?"

"I'll try." With that Wolfpaw jumped at the tree, digging his claws in to catch it. He used his hind legs to push himself up and his front claws to keep himself from falling until he was able to climb onto the first branch. From there he was able to jump from branch to branch until he reached the required branch. Once there he turned around carefully, his tail waving as he tried to catch his balance. Then he cautiously felt his way back to the branch with the bird nest, pausing there to sniff at the nest. After sniffing at it for a moment or two, Wolfpaw continued his slow way back to the lowest branch. From there he jumped to the ground.

"Well done." Darkstar congratulated, impressed. Wolfpaw dipped his head and set down a mouthful of sparrow eggs before answering.

"Thanks. It was easier once I got into the rhythm of it. I even got someone some dinner."

"Good job. You can bury them for now. We'll return for them after your assessment."

"Okay." Wolfpaw nodded before digging a hole at the base of the tree he had climbed and carefully burying the eggs.

"Good. Now I'm going to chase you and try to stop you from getting across the river. It's your job to either try to outpace or evade me. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Start." Wolfpaw took off running with Darkstar following close behind and steadily gaining ground. Wolfpaw noticed this and tried weaving around and under the undergrowth. This gave him a little extra ground until Darkstar began using his longer legs to jump over the bushes. With a flash of determination Wolfpaw switched tactics. He leaped onto a low branch and used that to propel him to another tree. He could see Darkstar run past underneath but Darkstar was unable to stop him as long as he stayed in the trees. This worked really well until the trees ran out. Wolfpaw had focused on Darkstar and hadn't realized that he was approaching the river so fast. He leaped from one tree and fell paws-first into the river, getting thoroughly soaked. Darkstar jumped in a heartbeat later and had caught Wolfpaw's scruff before he could swim to the other side.

"You're caught." Darkstar said, releasing him and swimming to the bank to climb out. Wolfpaw followed him and shook himself dry

"You did really well though. You'll have to teach the others how to jump from trees like that. And your final test is to see how well you can fight. I know you haven't been taught so just follow your instincts."

"Okay." Wolfpaw agreed with a nod, somewhat nervous. Darkstar began the fight with a fast blow to Wolfpaw's shoulder. Wolfpaw retaliated with a swipe at Darkstar's side. They continued sparring until they were both thoroughly out of breath and Wolfpaw had lost his footing.

"N-not bad." Darkstar panted. "But not good enough to live. However, I do think you did good enough to earn a warrior name." Wolfpaw's eyes blazed in excitement but he focused on recovering his breath instead of responding. Together they returned to where the sparrow eggs were buried and went back to camp after Wolfpaw retrieved them.

Wolfpaw set them inside the food backpack as Darkstar climbed to his branch on the meeting-tree.

"Let all members of Leafclan gather under the meeting-tree for a clan meeting! I, Darkstar, leader of Leafclan, call upon all of you to look upon this apprentice as he takes his first step into being a warrior. He has trained hard since we've become cats and I commend him for his ingenuity in his assessment. Wolfpaw, do you promise to uphold our code and to protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"At the cost of my life?" Wolfpaw questioned before resolving himself. "Alright. I do."

"Good. Then from this moment on, you will be known as Wolffang. You will be required to sit a silent vigil tonight. You will be allowed to return to your nest come sunrise." Leafclan had already begun to press forward to congratulate Wolffang before Darkstar had jumped down.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

Silverfire bounded forward to congratulate Wolffang as soon as Darkstar finished speaking, pushing in front of the rest of the crowd and brushing her muzzle against his in a show of affection.

"Congratulations Wolffang."

"Thanks. So now we're both warriors."

"Yeah. As soon as you finish your vigil."

"That doesn't sound fun."

"I'll stay with you, if you'd like."

"That'd be great! Thanks."

Silverfire smiled and nodded before slipping away so that the others could congratulate him. After a while the other cats drifted off and Wolffang joined Silverfire at the entrance to camp. Silverfire and Wolffang looked up as Darkstar approached them.

"Now Silverfire, remember, I need him to keep vigil so don't distract him." Darkstar warned her, his whiskers twitching as he tried to hide his obnoxious smile.

"I won't!" Silverfire insisted in a high-pitched voice. Darkstar and Wolffang laughed at her until, still gaping at Darkstar in mock anger, Silverfire smacked Wolffang with her tail.

"Ow." Wolffang began before a flick of Darkstar's tail reminded him that he was supposed to be silent.

"Go away." Silverfire insisted, waving a paw at Darkstar. Darkstar laughed again and left for his den. Silverfire scowled at him before turning around and facing the entrance tunnel again. Wolffang smiled as he felt Silverfire wrap her tail around his.

Snaketail smiled as she looked at her best friend from her den. Wolffang hadn't really seemed like someone Silverfire would fall for to Snaketail but clearly Silverfire had, and that made Snaketail happy. Snaketail knew that Silverfire had had a crush on Darkstar for a long time but Darkstar had his eye on someone else so Snaketail was happy that Silverfire had found someone she had a chance with.

Snaketail shook her head free of the circling thoughts and turned to return to her den.

"How's Willowfire?" Nightpaw asked, looking up from where she was arranging her sleeping bag.

"Good. She even got up and fetched her own food today."

"That is good. I'm glad that she's healing so well."

"Me too. That infection had me worried."

Nightpaw nodded in agreement and Snaketail scraped out a dip in the earth floor to sleep in.

"You know, you could share my sleeping bag. Or ask for your own back."

"I could. But Willowfire needs the extra warmth and I don't really want a sleeping bag. Although maybe some ferns or moss as padding would be nice."

"You're weird. So why do you want plant bedding?"

"It feels more natural. Better."

Nightpaw shook her head and rolled over on her sleeping bag. Snaketail's whiskers twitched in amusement as she heard Nightpaw mutter "weird" again.

The next morning was rainy. The rain seeped through leaves and soaked fur. Every cat that hadn't crawled inside a sleeping bag woke up shivering. Snaketail clambered to her paws and hissed at the roof of her den.

"Yes, threaten it. I'm certain that'll make it stop." Nightpaw teased.

"Be quiet." Snaketail muttered, trying not to laugh and knowing full well how silly the action was. "We'll have to see what we can do to give the roofs more protection from rain."

"Oh!" Nightpaw exclaimed, jumping to her paws. "We have to check on the nursery. The queens didn't have sleeping bags.

"You make sure that none of the queens or kits have caught a chill. I'll check on the elders."

Nightpaw nodded and left for the nursery. Snaketail followed her to the nursery but then continued going straight until she reached the elders' den.

"Excuse me?" Snaketail called in.

"Come in." Frostpelt responded. Snaketail pushed her way in and blinked a couple time to get used to the dim lighting.

"I just wanted to make sure no one got too wet."

"We're all mostly dry." Hazelwood answered. "We were all in our sleeping bags when the downpour began."

"Okay. Thank you." Snaketail backed out of the den and turned to walk back to her den when she realized something – all of her books and papers had been taken out of her backpack and left on the ground. She practically flew back to her den. As soon as she arrived, Snaketail sniffed at her books. The hard-covered ones were okay, just wet around the edges, but the paper-back books, notebooks, and folders were little more than a soggy mess.

"No." Snaketail gasped, horror-stricken at the loss of her precious books and notes. After staring at them for a little while, Snaketail pulled herself together and used a paw to push the water-clogged papers into a pile that she could carry outside and bury.

Nightpaw approached the den as Snaketail finished up.

"How are they?" Snaketail asked, flicking her ears toward the nursery.

"Cold and wet but none of them seem to have caught a chill and Embershade and Rosethorn are going to take the kits out for a bit so they can play together and warm up. It would probably be a good idea to put something dry in there though. That way they don't have to return to a wet den."

"Good idea. Moss should work okay if we shake the water out first. I know where some grows. The elders were all fine but I think it would do my mom good to have extra padding under her. She enjoys going camping but generally she likes having something soft to sleep on."

"Okay, so moss for the nursery and elder's den?" Nightpaw asked, clarifying.

"Yeah." Snaketail agreed before leading Nightpaw out into the clearing. They were stopped halfway across the clearing by a shout from Darkstar.

"Snaketail!" Darkstar called again before picking up some papers and approaching. He sent them down again once he reached Snaketail and Nightpaw. "I wanted to return these. They're the ceremonies that you wrote down. I forgot to return them after Wolffang's ceremony."

"Thanks. It's probably better that they were in your den. All my papers got soaked to the point that they're illegible. It's horrible." Snaketail whimpered the last sentence.

"Yeah. Some of the books could still have come in handy."

"One of the books was your wilderness survival book." Snaketail informed him, her guilt clear in her expression and tone.

"Now that we're cats we won't really need that one as much." Darkstar reassured her, noticing her emotion. "Anyway, where were you two off to?"

"We were going to fetch moss to line the nursery and elder's den with." Nightpaw answered. "The nursery is soaked and Snaketail thought Frostpelt would like something softer to sleep on."

"And I can't say I wouldn't welcome something to cover myself with while I sleep. I woke up at least five times last night for no better reason than that I didn't have anything on top of me." Snaketail complained. Then, after thinking for a little while, continued. "Although it also made it so that I woke up more thoroughly easier. Whenever I sleep with a blanket I feel all groggy and sluggish in the morning but my mind cleared up quickly this morning. That could be helpful for dawn patrols if a lack of blanket works that way for the others."

"It's a good theory but I don't think the warriors will be too eager to test it."

"Yeah," Snaketail conceded. "That's probably true." With that the conversation died and Snaketail and Nightpaw left camp. Darkstar watched them go before walking to the warriors' den. Peering in, he saw the cat he was looking for still asleep in his nest.

"Hey, Crimsonclaw." Darkstar called softly through the entrance, wary of waking the newest warrior. Crimsonclaw flicked an ear and curled up tighter. "Crimsonclaw! Wake up!"

Crimsonclaw flicked both ears, clambered to his paws, and stretched.

"What?" he grumbled.

"I want you, Badgerswipe, Snowlion, Moonleap, and Tornadoclaw to take the apprentices and teach them to hunt. Can you wake the other four warriors? I'll get the apprentices."

"Alright." Crimsonclaw agreed reluctantly. Darkstar had almost reached the apprentices' den when he heard Snowlion yowl angrily at Crimsonclaw to stay away from her tail. Darkstar sighed and continued on his way, leaving it to the other warriors to sort out. When he looked into the apprentices' den he saw that some of them were already awake. Hawkpaw, Lightpaw, and Minnowpaw were talking together and Shadowpaw was grooming herself on the other side of the den.

"Hey, Hime?" Darkstar asked, using his nickname for her.

"Yeah?" She asked, looking up.

"Could you wake up the other apprentices? I want the natural cats to teach you all how to hunt."

"Okay. We'll be out in a few minutes."

"'Kay." Darkstar nodded, backing out. The warriors he had asked Crimsonclaw to wake were already in the clearing. Snowlion and Badgerswipe were grooming and Crimsonclaw, Moonleap, and Tornadoclaw were talking.

"The apprentices should be out soon." Darkstar informed them.

"Okay. But I don't think Tornadoclaw should come with us." Crimsonclaw decided. Tornadoclaw's ears flattened in embarrassment.

"It's nothing!" She insisted. "I can still hunt just fine."

"What's wrong?" Darkstar asked Crimsonclaw, ignoring Tornadoclaw's protests.

"She said her stomach is feeling odd. And she vomited first thing this morning." Moonleap cut in.

"Okay. I want Snaketail to look over you. The others can teach the apprentices without you."

"It's _nothing_. I'm just fine!"

"Then you'll be able to join them after Snaketail has looked at you."

By now the apprentices had begun leaving their den but none of them heard the exchange. Snaketail and Nightpaw returned to camp at the same time as the last apprentice – Lightpaw – crawled out of his den. They were each holding two large balls of moss, one under their chin and one in their mouth. Snaketail headed straight for the elders' den and Nightpaw disappeared into the nursery. Soon after Nightpaw went into the nursery, Embershade and Rosethorn came out, their kits following behind. The kits immediately began play-fighting while the queens conversed.

"And there's Snaketail now." Darkstar pointed out. Tornadoclaw scowled at him but went to the elders' den anyway.

"Um, Snaketail?" Tornadoclaw called in.

"Come on in." Snaketail responded.

Tornadoclaw nudged her way through the entrance and quickly located Snaketail at the back of the den, laying out moss over the ground. The elders were all sitting on Willowfire's mattress, talking.

"What'd you need?"

"Um, it can wait until later if you're busy."

"Nah, that's fine. I'm just about finished here." Snaketail tucked a final bit of moss into place and walked over to Tornadoclaw. "What is it?"

"It's nothing too important. Darkstar just wanted you to look me over." Tornadoclaw mumbled.

"How come?" Snaketail knew that Darkstar wouldn't have insisted if it wasn't something potentially important.

"It's nothing." Tornadoclaw muttered, embarrassed again. Snaketail looked at her for a little bit before speaking.

"Why don't we go back to my den?" Snaketail led Tornadoclaw back to the medicine den before Tornadoclaw could respond. Tornadoclaw followed but glanced around often, already knowing what Snaketail would find and not wanting to give her the chance to find it.

"Okay, so why did Darkstar send you to me?"

"It's nothing. It's just a slight discomfort and some mild vomiting." Tornadoclaw's voice faded out so that she was muttering the final few words.

"Vomiting?" Snaketail asked. "Okay, please lay down on your side. I'm going to rub my paw over your belly and see if I can feel any irregularities."

Tornadoclaw looked away and scowled a bit before finally obeying Snaketail's request. Snaketail sniffed at her stomach before gently rubbing one paw over it. Snaketail frowned and checked again.

"That should be impossible." Snaketail commented to herself.

"Can I go yet?" Tornadoclaw yelped, jumping up and away from Snaketail.

"All right. Go ahead and join the others. You'll be fine for some time yet." Tornadoclaw had already fled the den before Snaketail had finished. Snaketail shook her head at the situation and went to check on Nightpaw.

When she got to the nursery, Snaketail found Nightpaw talking with Embershade, seemingly unaware of the two kittens stalking her tail.

"Are you done in here Nightpaw?" Snaketail asked at the same time as the kits pounced. Nightpaw jumped and batted the kittens away gently.

"Yeah, I'm done. Got my tail clawed for it." Nightpaw scowled at Rabbitkit and Dustkit before she had to laugh at their overly innocent expressions. They left the den and Snaketail smiled as she saw that Willowfire was fetching herself some food from the backpack.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better Willowfire." Snaketail called.

"Yeah. The bite is healing well." Willowfire agreed, before grudgingly continuing. "I guess your plants did work okay." Snaketail smiled and had to work really hard to not say 'I told you so.'

"We told you they would." Nightpaw pointed out, her tail twitching in irritation.

"Nightpaw." Snaketail said in warning. Nightpaw looked at her, pretending not to understand.

"She already acknowledged that they helped. We don't need to say anymore."

"She also acted like a young child when we tried to take care of her. I'd say we should be allowed to say we told her so."

Snaketail flattened her ears and turned to apologize to Willowfire before leading Nightpaw back to their den.

"We need to be polite to our clanmates. Especially the ones like Willowfire."

"Why?" Nightpaw challenged. "Why should we be especially polite to Willowfire? She's got to be one of the most impolite cats in the clan!"

"And that's exactly why we should be polite to her. If we act respectful towards her, she will learn to respect us."

"Oh!" Nightpaw exclaimed, surprised. "I thought you were going to say something stupid, like that we should respect her because she's old."

"That's nice." Snaketail laughed sarcastically. "No. The other clans might respect their elders for being elders but I respect people for being respectable. Or I act it if I'm trying to earn their respect."

"Okay," Nightpaw nodded. "That sounds bad put that way but it does make sense. I guess I could try. But I will still fight if someone challenges me."

"Alright." Snaketail conceded with a smile. "At least it's a start."


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

"Blackpaw." Blackpaw spun around to see Iceheart standing behind her.

"Iceheart!" Blackpaw exclaimed excitedly. "You haven't visited me for a few days. Where were you?"

"Sorry, I was with some of my friends. They're eager to meet you."

"Okay. Where are they?"

"They're in the forest a little way. Do you want to see them now?"

"Sure."

"Great. Come on." Iceheart turned and led Blackpaw into the trees. As soon as they entered the forest, Blackpaw noticed, the light grew very dim and sickly looking. The trees were bare and skeletal and the ground was moist and slightly sticky underpaw. Blackpaw thought it seemed familiar, like she'd heard about it somewhere, but she couldn't place it so she pushed the thought from her mind.

A few foxlengths in Blackpaw and Iceheart came out into a smaller clearing where two cats were talking. One of them was a long-furred, silvery-white tomcat with blue eyes and the other was a thick-furred, tortoiseshell and white she-cat with orange eyes. They looked up as Iceheart approached, Blackpaw following close behind.

"So, is this Blackpaw?" The silver-furred tom asked, his expression open and welcoming.

"Yes." Iceheart answered. Then he turned to address Blackpaw. "Blackpaw, this is Cloudfrost" He gestured with his tail to the silvery tom. "And Mapleshade." He gestured to the tortoiseshell and white she-cat. On hearing Mapleshade's name Blackpaw again got the feeling that she should recognize it but the feeling slipped away as she tried to pursue it.

"Hello." Blackpaw greeted them.

"It's nice to finally meet you." Mapleshade responded. Her voice was gravelly and hoarse but friendly. "Iceheart has been raving about you for the past few days."

Iceheart turned away, seemingly embarrassed. "She has been very kind, talking to me and allowing me to know her thoughts and feelings." Blackpaw was surprised. Most people she knew got annoyed when she spoke to them too long but apparently Iceheart really liked it.

"Tell me, do you know how to fight?" Cloudfrost asked curiously.

"Not very well. At first Badgerswipe, my mentor, was needed to hunt alone all the time and now that she's finally begun to teach me, she's only teaching me how to hunt."

"Would you like us to teach you?"

"Would you?" Blackpaw asked, surprised.

"Of course. If you want to learn."

"Thank you. I'd love to learn." Blackpaw's tail shot up in excitement.

"Okay, we'll begin with the basics."

By the time Iceheart decided that Blackpaw had trained enough for that night, Blackpaw was feeling battered and worn even though they hadn't used claws. She slept deeply for the remainder of the night and was still weary when Shadowpaw woke her up the next morning for more hunting practice. Blackpaw tried to wake up more thoroughly as Shadowpaw woke the other apprentices up. Once everyone in the den was awake, Shadowpaw led them out into the clearing where the natural cats were waiting.

"Will one of you bring the elders some breakfast? Then we'll go out to train." Tornadoclaw requested. After a moment Blackpaw decided she would, said "'Kay" and retrieved two voles and a mouse that the dawn patrol had brought back. The elders were still asleep when Blackpaw arrived so she left the prey next to Willowfire's mattress and returned to the natural cats and other apprentices.

"About time." Crimsonclaw complained. "Let's go." Without waiting for a response Crimsonclaw ran out of camp, leaving the others to follow behind as he did most every day. Blackpaw followed the other apprentices as they streamed out of camp, falling behind as she stumbled over her weary paws. She caught up with the others as they reached the training hollow.

"You've all done really well at hunting alone but not all catches can be made by only one cat. Today we're going to show you how to hunt in pairs. Crimsonclaw will be a rabbit and Moonleap and Badgerswipe are going to hunt him." Snowlion explained. At Snowlion's signal, Crimsonclaw sniffed at a clump of grass and Badgerswipe and Moonleap moved downwind of him. Moonleap moved silently over to stand to the right of Crimsonclaw as Badgerswipe moved over to the left. With a sudden leap, Badgerswipe landed noisily beside Crimsonclaw. Crimsonclaw turned and fled to his right and Moonleap leaped on him and pinned him down.

"Now if you're hunting you'd want to go straight for the throat or the rabbit will squeal and frighten off all the other prey in the area." Tornadoclaw added. "We thought you should practice for a little while in groups of three then we send you out in pairs and whichever group catches something and brings it back here first gets first pick of the fresh-kill pile."

"Shadowpaw and Firepaw will be practicing with Badgerswipe, Blackpaw and Lightpaw will practice with Tornadoclaw, Eaglepaw and Minnowpaw with Moonleap, and Dawnpaw and Hawkpaw with Crimsonclaw. I'll be sitting out so I can see if someone is doing something wrong." Snowlion decided. All the cats got into their groups and Snowlion jumped onto a low branch nearby to watch.

"Okay, I'm going to be the rabbit. Blackpaw, I want you to be the distraction so that Lightpaw can catch me. Then you two can switch positions." Blackpaw and Lightpaw nodded and Tornadoclaw got into place with her back to the apprentices. Blackpaw crouched and moved over to Tornadoclaw's left side as Lightpaw began to slide quietly to her right. Blackpaw jumped up suddenly and Tornadoclaw ran to her right. Lightpaw leapt forward powerfully but he was still too far away to reach Tornadoclaw before she got past him.

"That was a good jump Lightpaw." Tornadoclaw commented as she returned. "Blackpaw, you need to wait a little longer before moving."

"I know." Blackpaw snapped, annoyed at the advice. Tornadoclaw just looked at Blackpaw for a long moment until Blackpaw began feeling uncomfortable and looked away. Then Tornadoclaw nodded and continued speaking.

"We'll try again with Blackpaw as the distraction before changing positions." The three of them practiced a while longer before Tornadoclaw released Blackpaw and Lightpaw to try hunting for real.

Tornadoclaw led the two apprentices back to camp in a much better mood than they had during training. Blackpaw and Lightpaw each carried a squirrel and Lightpaw had two mice with it while Blackpaw clutched a sparrow. Tornadoclaw had a large rabbit and another mouse.

However, when they entered camp Blackpaw saw immediately that something was wrong. Silverfire, Wolffang, Snaketail, Frostpelt, and Hazelwood were gathered around something that had been placed at the base of the meeting-tree. The rest of the clan stayed a little further away, watching solemnly. Tornadoclaw made a quiet shocked noise, dropped the prey she was holding, and ran to join the small group in the center of camp. Moonleap walked over and comfortingly licked Tornadoclaw's ear.

When Wolffang and Snaketail moved to make room for Tornadoclaw and Moonleap, Blackpaw caught a glimpse of short, gray fur and she abruptly knew what was going on. With Lightpaw's help, Blackpaw moved the prey they'd caught, plus what Tornadoclaw had dropped to the food pile before joining the other apprentices in front of their den. After they had all waited in silence for a while, Rosethorn stood and began to speak.

"Before I found Leafclan I had traveled for several months. During that time I met several different cats, after I changed. One of the cats was a gray tomcat who had previously lived with a bunch of other cats before he became a kittypet. He told me a little about the life he left while he showed me through the city he was living in. When a cat died in his clowder, each one of them would go up and say something they liked or admired about the dead cat, then the cat's closest friends and family would sit next to the body for the remainder of the night. The next morning, the oldest cats and maybe some of the ones that sat with the dead cat would go to bury the body. I think we should do this for Willowfire." Brighttalon went up to Willowfire's corpse before anyone could agree or disagree with Rosethorn's idea and brushed Willowfire's fur with his nose before speaking.

"I didn't know Willowfire very well. I only met her a few times as a human and I didn't like her. But here, as a cat, I have known her to give up food to her clanmates even though it meant going hungry herself."

Hazelwood stood up next. "And after sharing a den with Frostpelt and I for a few weeks, Willowfire proved to be selfless in sharing her mattress with the two of us. She had every right to keep it to herself and neither Frostpelt nor I made a comment implying we wanted her mattress so it was of her own will that she offered to share it." One by one, all the members of Leafclan stood by Willowfire's body and made some comment about her. After everyone had had a say, most of them returned to their dens to sleep. Only Silverfire, Wolffang, Tornadoclaw, and Snaketail stayed by Willowfire's side until sunrise.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

Three days had passed since Willowfire died and Snaketail was no closer to knowing how now than she had been on the first night. When her clanmates asked, Snaketail told them she wasn't certain but that she suspected an internal infection. That was a lie. Willowfire had completely healed from the fox bite so whatever had killed her must have been something new. Nightpaw alone knew about Snaketail's confusion and only because Snaketail spent so much time wondering at it in their den. When the moon had risen nearly to the center of the sky, Nightpaw came out of the medicine den and insisted Snaketail come back in to sleep. After a moment's hesitation, Snaketail agreed and they both curled into their nests and slept.

"Snaketail." A quiet tom's voice called. Snaketail opened her eyes and stretched. She sat up quickly when she realized she wasn't in her nest. She looked around at the dim, misty forest that she was in for a moment or two before noticing the long-furred silver-white tomcat who was sitting in front of her. His blue eyes gleamed in amusement at her confusion.

"I'm sorry. Who are you?" Snaketail asked.

"My name is Cloudfrost."

"Does Starclan have something to tell me?" Snaketail couldn't quite help thinking that this damp, cool forest felt somewhat different than Starclan's sun-warmed territory but she thought that maybe this was just an area she hadn't seen before so she didn't say anything.

"I just wanted to assure you that Willowfire's death was not your fault."

"I know. I just don't understand how she did die. Any infection remaining from the fox bite would have shown up long before then."

"I can tell you how she died." Snaketail looked up at him, a question in her eyes. In reply, Cloudfrost pushed some leaves toward her with one paw. Snaketail leaned forward to look closer and sniff at them.

"Poison hemlock?"

Cloudfrost nodded solemnly before speaking. "One of the apprentices brought her a mouse that morning that was laced with the root of this plant."

"No." Snaketail denied, shaking her head and backing away from the poisonous plant."No, none of Leafclan's apprentices would do that. I know them all. None of them have the heart for cold-blooded murder."

"I am simply telling you the facts Snaketail. I'm sorry but clearly one of your apprentices is capable of that."

"No. I'm sorry but you're mistaken. That can't be true." Cloudfrost just gazed at her sadly as Snaketail turned and blundered away, running through the sickly green light until she woke up.

Snaketail jumped up, gasping from her frantic run until she caught her breath. She shook her head crossly, trying to rid herself of the memory of Cloudfrost's accusation. However, Snaketail still tensed up when she saw Blackpaw carrying a squirrel across the camp to the elders. She was just about to turn away, annoyed at herself again, when she saw Frostpelt push her share to Hazelwood.

"Are you feeling okay, Mom?" Snaketail asked as she approached.

"Hmm, yeah. I just don't feel up to prey yet. I'll eat something later."

"Do you want me to fetch you something lighter, maybe some plants? I know where some miner's lettuce and clover grows."

"I suppose so. Thank you."

"Do you want anything Hazelwood?" Snaketail offered.

"No, thank you. I'm fine." Snaketail nodded and left.

Several minutes later Snaketail crouched next to a patch of clover. Setting down the chickweed, dandelion, and miner's lettuce leaves, Snaketail went to the task of collecting clover heads. As she leaned over a patch of leaves towards a flower head, Snaketail noticed a four-leaved clover. With the idea that Frostpelt would like it Snaketail decided to take it as well. However, when Snaketail reached to grab it, two of the leaves split in half, leaving it with six leaf parts.

"I didn't even touch you yet." Snaketail commented to the plant but decided against picking it after all. Instead she gathered the plants she already had and went back to camp.

After Snaketail dropped off Frostpelt's food she returned to her den. Nightpaw looked up as Snaketail entered and spoke.

"Hey, Snaketail?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, I was taking a short nap just now and, well, my dream was, weird."

"How so?"

"It was too vivid. I noticed everything in all my senses."

"What happened?"

"I was playing around in camp, pinning leaves and chasing butterflies and then I saw a particularly bright leaf fall off the entrance tunnel so I chased and leaped at it but it always stayed just out of reach. It led me out of camp and far away. I mean, it didn't feel like I'd traveled too far but as I chased it I was aware of the scenery changing around me. Then the leaf brought me across a fallen log and onto an island before falling into the lake and breaking in half." Nightpaw hesitated a moment before adding. "Snaketail, I think we should find the other clans. You know, Thunderclan and Shadowclan and them."

Before Snaketail could answer Darkstar's voice rang out across the camp.

"Let all members of Leafclan gather under the meeting-tree for a clan meeting!" Exchanging a glance, Snaketail and Nightpaw left their den and joined with the rest of the clan.

"I was speaking with some of our apprentices earlier today and they've has expressed a desire to live as kittypets. If anyone else finds this lifestyle unsuitable and would rather live with two-legs please come forward and stand next to Lightpaw."

Slowly and uncertainly a few cats moved forward. First came Minnowpaw, then Hawkpaw. After talking a bit, Foxfur and Firepaw also approached. Embershade turned to talk with Sandpelt, whom was sitting next to her.

"I want to go with them. Will you come with us Sandpelt?"

"Embershade, I'm not sure if we could find a twoleg that would take the three of us. And most people tend to spay or neuter their cats." That caused some of the cats that had chosen to leave to shuffle uncertainly.

"All valid points but I don't like living like this."

"I know and I want you to be happy but I'm not sure you will be as a kittypet either."

"Well, what do you suggest then?"

"I don't know. If I do think of something though I will let you know. Just stay with Leafclan until I do, please"

"...Alright." Embershade reluctantly agreed.

"Okay," Darkstar continued. "Is that everyone who wants a kittypet life? And are you five sure you still want to after hearing Sandpelt's rebuttal?"

Everyone made noises to show that they were content with the group they were with. Darkstar nodded and recommenced.

"Then first thing tomorrow Brighttalon and I will take you into the city and we'll see what we can do about finding you homes." He finished, addressing the cats that had collected around Lightpaw.


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-one**

Darkstar left his den the next morning in time to see Spruceheart leading the dawn patrol in.

"Any news?" Darkstar asked, approaching. Spruceheart flicked his tail to dismiss the other three cats before responding.

"Blackpaw scented an unfamiliar cat scent but the tom that left it had already left our territory. Other than that it was quiet."

"Okay, thanks." Darkstar turned to leave, then stopped as he realized something. "I thought Blackpaw was assigned to go on a hunting patrol later today."

"She insisted she had plenty of energy and she seemed really set on coming on dawn patrol." Spruceheart responded with a shrug.

"Okay. Well, I guess as long as she does have enough energy for both then that's fine. I'm going to go hunting. Can you tell Brighttalon to fetch me when he wakes up?"

"Sure."

By the time Brighttalon retrieved Darkstar the sun had climbed a fair way and Darkstar had caught two squirrels, a rabbit, and a robin. Brighttalon helped carry some of the prey into camp, where the cats who were leaving were waiting.

The two of them set their prey in the food-pack before turning and leading Lightpaw and the others away.

By the time the sun had reached the center of the sky, Darkstar's patrol was deep in the twolegplace but none of the cats had homes yet. They were standing in front of a medium-sized house that had a large porch with railings that were in clear view of the windows.

"This looks like a good house to try." Brighttalon commented. "Although there is a smell of cat, which could be a good thing or a bad thing."

"'Kay, who wants to try this one?" Darkstar asked. After a moment, Lightpaw volunteered and walked to the porch. With an easy leap he had jumped onto the porch railing and looked inside. Soon afterward a thickset Russian blue jumped onto the windowsill inside and meowed something. However, the glass was too thick for Lightpaw to make out the words. The Russian blue looked further into the house and meowed again and, a minute or two later, the door opened enough for him to come outside. Darkstar, Brighttalon, Hawkpaw, Foxfur, Firepaw, and Minnowpaw hid under a trimmed bush in the yard.

"Who are you?" The Russian blue asked in a tone that was neither friendly nor unfriendly.

"Um, I'm Lightpaw. Who are you?"

The Russian blue stared at Lightpaw for a little while before answering. "Xykon. Why are you in my territory?"

"I, I was trying to find some people I could live with. I, um, didn't realize that this house was taken."

"Doesn't your nose work? My scent is all over this yard." Xykon's tone sounded a lot friendlier despite his words.

"Sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention." Lightpaw relaxed at the change of tone.

"Well that'd be a good thing for your friends over there to check next time, assuming they're also looking for new homes. My housefolk would probably accept one of you but I'd have a hard time convincing them to accept more." Xykon said, looking at the bush where the others thought they were hidden. Darkstar led his patrol out from under the bush as Xykon spoke. "There's a right clowder of you isn't there. And you're all trying to find homes with housefolk?"

"Most of us are. Brighttalon and I are just helping them search." Darkstar informed him.

"Well, as I said, one of you could come live with me and my housefolk but it'll take a while and the rest of you'll have to look elsewhere."

"That's fine. Thank you." Darkstar said. Then he turned to address Lightpaw "Do you want this place or should someone else take it?"

Lightpaw glanced at the others, especially his siblings, before answering. "I think I would like it."

"Great," Xykon said excitedly. "Well, it'll take a little while but I'll get you inside. Until I do you can sleep under that bush your friends were in. It'll keep you dry and fairly warm until my housefolk accept you."

As Xykon continued to talk Minnowpaw, Brighttalon, and Hawkpaw rubbed their heads against Lightpaw's shoulder as they said goodbye. Foxfur, Firepaw, and Darkstar waited until they had finished to step forward and say their goodbyes. Xykon was still speaking when they left.

The next house they came to had a rather less friendly cat. Hawkpaw had gone forward to try this house, emboldened by his brother's success. A sleek Siamese cat pushed her way through the cat door and stood between Hawkpaw and the porch stairs.

"What are you doing here?" She growled.

"I was trying to find a house to live in and I thought this one might be open."

"Well, it's not." She crouched, unsheathed her claws, and crept closer.

"Okay, sorry." Hawkpaw said, his voice rising slightly in fear of this hostile cat. "I'll just leave then." The Siamese didn't bother responding, she leapt forward and attacked. This brought Darkstar, Brighttalon, Foxfur, Firepaw, and Minnowpaw running to Hawkpaw's defense. The Siamese heard them coming, glanced over her shoulder at them, and turned and fled into her house. As they left they heard her yowling from her porch.

"Stay away from here! I won't let you leave so easily next time."

Foxfur looked back to say something but on Darkstar's suggestion decided against it. After a few more unsuccessful houses and one successful one where Minnowpaw was immediately accepted by the twoleg who opened the door Brighttalon moved forward to stand next to Darkstar at the front of the group.

"I think we're being followed." Brighttalon informed Darkstar in a quiet voice. Darkstar glanced over his shoulder but didn't see anything but he nodded regardless and turned completely to face Foxfur, Firepaw, and Hawkpaw.

"I think we should rest for a bit." He suggested. "We're not used to walking on paws on cement and my paws are sore."

"Mine are too." Firepaw agreed, laying down and washing her pads. That encouraged the rest to also sit down and relax. However, with Darkstar's permission, Brighttalon went back the way they came. A moment later there was a startled yowl and Brighttalon came back, herding a scarred, scrawny light gray tomcat towards them.

"Seems a stray was curious about us." Brighttalon called to Darkstar as he approached.

"I see. Did he say what he wanted?"

"No." Brighttalon looked at the tom to answer.

"I just noticed that you seemed to be trying to find places to live and I thought I'd offer a suggestion." The tom's voice was cool and collected, the voice of someone accustomed to being listened to.

"So why were you following us from a distance?"

"I wanted to be certain that that was in fact what you were doing before approaching you. As for my suggestion, I wanted to make sure that you were aware of the various lifestyles outside that of a kittypet."

"We know about some of them."

"Which ones do you know about?"

"Well, originally all of us here lived together in a clan and I know that some cats live alone or in smaller family groups."

The tom nodded. "I was going to suggest a loner's lifestyle but if you have already thought of that as an alternative then I won't waste my time." With that he ran and leaped to the top of a fence, continued running, and jumped to a rooftop before dropping out of sight. While the tom was talking, Foxfur and Firepaw whispered to each other but they stopped before any of their group noticed.

After resting for a little while longer, Darkstar led his four clanmates forward again and by nightfall Hawkpaw also had a home and, on Foxfur's suggestion, they began making their way back to the park. Once they arrived at the border of the park however, Foxfur and Firepaw stopped and Darkstar and Brighttalon turned to face them.

"We were thinking that we would try out the loner life that the gray tom spoke about." Foxfur said. "We discussed it and we think that it would be easier for us."

"Alright," Darkstar agreed, "If that's what you want. If you change your mind you can come back."

"Thanks, Darkstar. We'll keep that in mind." Darkstar nodded and Foxfur turned and led Firepaw away. Darkstar and Brighttalon left a moment later and got to camp just before moonhigh. The few cats that had waited up for them welcomed them back before going to their dens.


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-two**

The following night Snaketail and Nightpaw made their way to the Mooncave under the light of the half-moon. They walked in silence and laid down in the center of the patch of moonlight.

"Welcome back." Sunfish greeted them, somewhat acerbically. Nightpaw sat up and nodded stiffly in acknowledgement. Snaketail also sat up, her tail twitching in annoyance at the other two cats' behaviour.

"Was there something Starclan needed to say?" Snaketail asked pointedly.

"I need to point out that if you truly want to make yourself an enemy to Starclan, you're in the wrong place."

"Do you _want_ to turn us against you?" Snaketail asked

"One of your apprentices is nearly already there."

"What are you talking about?" Snaketail growled, her fur bristling. "Speak plainly."

"You want me to speak plainly? Watch your apprentices closely, especially Blackpaw."

"Why?" Nightpaw snarled

"She's making dangerous friends."

"She hasn't met anyone outside Leafclan since we started."

"Not when she was awake." Sunfish looked up at the sky. "It's time to leave." And she faded away before everything turned to black and the medicine cats woke up.

"What is wrong with her?" Nightpaw hissed, standing. "_Is_ she trying to create tension?"

"I really have no idea." Snaketail replied. "But that's the second time someone has told me to watch the apprentices."

"Second?"

"A few nights after Willowfire died I dreamed about a white tomcat named Cloudfrost who also told me to watch out for one of the apprentices."

"Did he explain any better than Sunfish?"

Snaketail hesitated for a heartbeat then answered. "No, he didn't. He just warned me to watch the apprentices."

Nightpaw hissed in frustration before speaking again. "Well we should probably go home. We're not doing any good talking over a lack of information." Snaketail nodded in agreement and they left. As they entered camp, Darkstar approached them.

"Hey, how'd it go?"

"Sunfish was just as annoying as before." Snaketail commented. "Everything okay here?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I'm thinking that Tornadoclaw should move to the nursery soon though and I wanted to know your thoughts on the matter." As Darkstar was speaking, two small shapes slinked out of the nursery in an attempt to not be seen. They ran towards the apprentices' den, belly fur brushing the ground.

"She probably should. She's already showing and I don't know when cats should start relaxing more." Snaketail responded, glancing at the kittens.

Nightpaw turned and jogged over towards the den that the kits had just disappeared into as noises erupted from it. She returned a moment later carrying Dustkit. Shadowpaw was following her, holding Rabbitkit. Together they returned the kittens to their mothers.

"Another thing that needs to be done." Darkstar muttered to himself, staring at Shadowpaw as she settled in front of her den to groom. Snaketail followed his gaze and nodded.

"Well, I want to see what plants I'm lacking." Snaketail informed Darkstar, starting towards her den. He waved his tail in acknowledgement and she sped up to her normal walking pace.

After Snaketail left, Darkstar went to the warriors' den and poked his head in. Spruceheart, who was sitting in his nest grooming, looked up.

"What do you need, Darkstar?"

"Is Shiningheart in here?"

"No, she went out on dawn patrol with Moonleap and Blackpaw."

"Okay, thank you." Darkstar withdrew and jogged to the entrance tunnel again but the patrol he was seeking arrived before he reached it. Both Moonleap and Shiningheart seemed a little weary but neither looked anywhere close to how exhausted Blackpaw appeared.

"Hey, Shiningheart," Darkstar began.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking about assessing Shadowpaw. Do you think she's ready?"

"I think so. At least, I can't think of anything more I can teach her."

"Okay, thanks." Darkstar turned to leave, then looked back. "Blackpaw, you should go get some more rest." Blackpaw nodded and left, her tail dragging slightly.

"Let all members of Leafclan gather under the meeting-tree for a clan meeting! Shiningheart, is Shadowpaw ready to become a warrior?" Darkstar asked from his perch on the meeting-tree at sunset that night.

"Yes, she is."

"Then I, Darkstar, leader of Leafclan, call upon all of you to look upon this apprentice as she takes her first step into being a warrior. She has trained hard since we've become cats and I commend her for her courage and intelligence. Shadowpaw, do you promise to uphold our code and to protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do."

"Good. Then from this moment on, you will be known as Shadowlion. You will be required to sit a silent vigil tonight. You can find yourself a nest come sunrise."

After Darkstar finished speaking, the rest of Leafclan surged forward to congratulate Shadowlion. Darkstar jumped out of the meeting-tree and brushed whiskers with Shadowlion.

"Congratulations, Hime-Chan." Darkstar purred. Shadowlion purred in response but she didn't use words.


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-three**

A moon later, Darkstar looked up from his grooming as he heard Silverfire run into camp, closely followed by Blackpaw, Moonleap, and Shadowlion.

"What's up?" Darkstar asked, pricking his ears. Silverfire took a moment to catch her breath before speaking.

"There are some kids heading this direction, I mean, twoleg kits. A family has begun camping at the campsite and the kits went to explore the forest. We were going to keep an eye on them for a while but the younger one saw at least one of us." She explained. "They're heading this way."

"'Kay," Darkstar acknowledged, thinking. "Fetch Brighttalon, Snowlion, and Badgerswipe." He instructed Silverfire. After she left, he turned to the other three. "I want you three to warn everyone else to stay inside their dens in case my plan doesn't work."

Blackpaw and Moonleap nodded and left. Shadowlion began to follow them, then turned back.

"What _is_ your plan?" She asked. Darkstar just finished explaining when Silverfire returned with the three she was sent to retrieve. He quickly briefed them too and told Silverfire to lead him, Brighttalon, Snowlion, and Badgerswipe to the twolegs. Within moments of leaving camp the direction that the twoleg kits were was obvious. However, Silverfire led the patrol around the twolegs until they were between the twolegs and the campsite. Once in position, Badgerswipe stepped out of the shadows.

"Look over here!" She meowed loudly. Both two-legs turned and, catching sight of her, approached. As they came closer, Badgerswipe turned and walked towards the rest of the patrol, taking care to keep at least a fox-length between herself and the nearest twoleg. Once Badgerswipe got within a tail-length of the bushes, the rest of the patrol stepped out and all five of them ran towards the campground. The twolegs, startled, gave chase. As they got near the campsite, the cats separated and each ran up a different tree. Silverfire scrambled up a birch tree but as she leaped onto one of the lower branches, it gave way beneath her as a mixture of dead wood, bug trails, and Silverfire's sudden weight proved to be too much. Silverfire landed heavily next to the fallen branch and was temporarily stunned as she struggled to regain her breath.

The two twoleg kits crouched over Silverfire for a while, blocking the other cats' view of her, and when they straightened up, the older one was holding her. Each of her present clanmates tried to get out of their trees fast enough to stop the twolegs but, due to the proximity to the campsite, Silverfire was carried inside the tent before any of the other cats could reach her.

The remains of the patrol gathered underneath a holly bush after Darkstar signalled to them with his tail.

"Obviously we have to go get her but I'm not really sure how. Any ideas?"

"Why don't we just run in, fetch her, and run out?" Snowlion asked.

"That wouldn't work." Badgerswipe disagreed. "We don't know if she's hurt or not, and if she is then she won't be able to run."

"Maybe we should wait until nightfall, then sneak in and at least check on her." Brighttalon suggested.

"We don't know if they'll stay another night." Snowlion pointed out.

"They probably will. According to Silverfire, they only came in earlier today." Darkstar responded. "So we will wait until nightfall, then I'll go check on her."

"I'll come with you." Brighttalon offered.

"Thanks, but no. Your silver fur will show up better at night than my black fur."

"We should at least put a guard here during the day so that we can know for certain that they'll be here later tonight." Snowlion insisted.

"Will you do that, Snowlion?" Darkstar asked. Snowlion responded with a curt nod. "Okay, thank you. The rest of us should return to camp."


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-four**

That night, Darkstar made his way to the exit out of camp, only to find that Brighttalon, Snaketail, Wolffang, and Tornadoclaw were waiting in front of it. Snaketail and Tornadoclaw were arguing.

"I am going to go help fetch her!" Tornadoclaw insisted.

"We can't risk you getting caught also, you can't run as fast now that you're pregnant."

"Everyone that goes runs the risk of getting caught, including our leader, deputy, and medicine cat! And I'm not so slow yet as to be unable to outrun a human."

"Neither of you are going." Darkstar interrupted. Both she-cats turned to look at him, objections ready. "I said when the patrol came back earlier today that I'm the _only_ one going to get her." That started a flood of complaints.

"She's my mate!"

"You'll need someone to watch your back."

"I'm not leaving my person behind."

"I, too, object to the idea of sitting back and doing nothing."

Darkstar waited until they all quieted down, then spoke again.

"Right, some of you have valid points. Brighttalon, Wolffang, you're with me. Snaketail, Tornadoclaw, go back to your nests." Snaketail and Tornadoclaw opened their mouths as though to continue arguing. "Enough! I made up my mind. You two stay. You two come with me. I will bring Silverfire home safely."

Before either of them could speak, Darkstar ran through the tunnel, followed by Brighttalon and Wolffang. The three of them ran hard until they reached the place where Snowlion had waited until Crimsonclaw came to relieve her.

"They're still here?" Darkstar asked.

"Yeah," Crimsonclaw responded. "The tent just recently went dark."

"Okay, thanks. Have you seen any sign of Silverfire?"

"I heard her voice earlier but no, they haven't let her out." Darkstar nodded in grim acknowledgement and led his patrol forward slowly until they were on the edge of the woods. Crimsonclaw tagged along with them.

"Brighttalon, I want you, Crimsonclaw, and Wolffang to wait here. If I'm caught I'll give a yowl. If that happens, send Crimsonclaw first. Of you three, he's the least likely to be noticed." Brighttalon nodded and Darkstar moved forward alone. He approached the tent cautiously, surprised at how strong human-scent was. Once he got to it, he tapped gently at the walls, trying to find a place where he could slip underneath. Unfortunately, the tent was built with the walls attached to the floor except where the zippered door was. Darkstar looked at the zipper and was relieved to find the it closed top-to-bottom. Darkstar grabbed the zipper in his teeth and, using his paw the hold the plastic taut, unzipped a small opening. With his paws and nose, Darkstar pushed the opening bigger until he could slip in. Sniffing at the air, Darkstar soon located Silverfire. She was inside a cardboard box with folded clothes strewn around it.

"Silverfire!" Darkstar hissed quietly. There was no response. Darkstar tried again, slightly louder, and there were muffled groans from inside. Darkstar tried one more time and Silverfire finally replied.

"Who's there?"

"It's Darkstar. Can you push the box over?"

"I tried, there's something in the way." Darkstar looked around at the clothes. He hadn't paid them much mind before but now he noticed that they were stacked around the box in such a way as to prevent it tipping over.

"Okay, I'll try to move the obstruction. When I give the word, jump at the wall on your left."

"'Kay." Darkstar immediately went to pushing at the clothes on his right, tossing or shoving the away from the side of the box. After doing this for a short while, he realized that he wouldn't be able to get enough done in time.

"I'm going to need help." Darkstar informed Silverfire. "I've got cats waiting outside so I'll be right back."

"Alright." Darkstar ran back out of the camp and to where the patrol was waiting. However, when he got there, the three other cats were snarling at a gray fox that had just arrived. Darkstar joined them in threatening it, hoping that the fox would decide that four strong cats weren't worth messing with. Then the fox did something unexpected.

"You need not worry any." The vixen insisted in an odd accent. She sounded somewhat upset that they would be scared of her. "Your friend is imprisoned, correct? I can help."

"Why would you help?" Darkstar asked, stepping forward cautiously.

"Your friend is one of multiple imprisoned by the furless ones." The vixen's growl was closer to what Darkstar had expected in the first place. "For my help I would request assistance in trade."

"I need to talk this over with my clanmates." Darkstar said. The vixen nodded and sat back. Darkstar turned around, trusting his friends would watch his back.

"What do you think?" He asked them.

"I don't trust her." Crimsonclaw warned.

"I'm not sure I do either." Brighttalon agreed. "But-"

"But she could help!" Wolffang interrupted. "If she's willing to help, let her! We need to save Silverfire!"

"We will get Silverfire." Darkstar promised. "With or without her help."

"Actually, I agree with Wolffang. I don't trust her but we could use her help, and we can take as many cats with us as we feel necessary when we go to help her."

"Alright then, let's do it." Darkstar turned back to the vixen. "We'll accept your help and we will help you later but we'd like to get the chance to fetch more of our clanmates before we help you."

"Agreed, that is audibly just. But your friend must be retrieved tonight. These furless ones only ever stay a short time at suntime dens like this."

Darkstar nodded and led the group to the tent, where the zipper was still open enough to admit a cat. The gray fox, whom was only barely bigger than a cat, fit easily enough.

"We need to move the clothes away from this side of the box." Darkstar whispered, already scraping at the cloth. The other cats joined in with their paws while the vixen grabbed bundles of fabric in her teeth and tossed them aside with sharp jerks of her head. With all of them working together, they finished just as the earliest birds began singing dawn.

"Silverfire?" Darkstar asked.

"Do I jump yet?" Silverfire replied. Darkstar waved his tail at the others and they moved out of the way.

"Yeah." The box tilted to the right but corrected itself.

"Try again." Darkstar suggested. The box tilted again and this time Wolffang jumped forward and sank his claws into the top, pulling it over. Silverfire tumbled out.

"You okay?" Wolffang asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's-" Silverfire stopped when she saw the vixen and bristled up.

"Relax." Darkstar soothed, stepping in between Silverfire and the vixen. "She helped us."

Silverfire blinked doubtfully at the vixen but did calm down. They all jumped as one of the twolegs turned over suddenly and mumbled something. Darkstar led the way out of the tent and to the relative safety of the woods.

"Will you retrieve allies and reconvene at this location?" The vixen asked.

"Yes." Darkstar promised. "We'll return as soon as we can." The vixen didn't answer verbally but sat down and curled her tail around her paws. Darkstar signaled to the other cats and they ran back to camp as fast as they could.

"Right, Silverfire, I want you to check in with Snaketail, send her to me, then get some rest. Wolffang, send me Wildear and Sandpelt, then you do the same." The two warriors nodded and went to the separate dens. "Crimsonclaw, I want you to come with me to help the vixen." Crimsonclaw frowned but nodded. "And Brighttalon, I dunno how long we'll be gone, so you're in charge until we get back." Brighttalon nodded solemnly.

"Take care." Brighttalon suggested. "I don't particularly feel like being leader yet, what with all it entails."

"I'm always careful." Darkstar insisted with a smile. Then the cats Darkstar had sent for arrived.

"What'd ya need?" Sandpelt asked, still tired.

"While we were fetching Silverfire, a female gray fox asked for our help in return for hers. I agreed to give her help but I wanted to bring some other cats with me in case this is a trick. Would you all come with me?"

"I'll come." Wildear volunteered eagerly.

"Yeah, I will too." Sandpelt agreed.

"I'd love too," Snaketail replied after some hesitation. "But I really should keep an eye on Silverfire. Her left hind ankle is sprained and running on it did her no favors. Could Nightpaw go in my place?"

"I'm reluctant to bring an apprentice, but alright. If you'll take care of Shadowlion too. She's special to me and I want to know she's safe."

"I'll keep an eye on her." Snaketail promised with a smile. Then she returned to her den and Nightpaw emerged soon afterward.

"Snaketail explained." Nightpaw said as she approached. "So we're going to help a fox, how different." Darkstar nodded, looked at each member of his patrol, then turned and led them back to where the vixen was waiting in the pre-dawn light.

"You have returned." She sounded happily surprised.

"I promised I would." Darkstar responded.

"Please come." The vixen trotted quickly back the way the cats had just come.

"Where are we going?" Darkstar asked, catching up.

"To the furless ones' snowtime den, where they keep their prisoners." Before long they were swimming across the river but they passed the camp without the vixen even seeming to notice it. By the time the sun peeked over the horizon, they were just on the outskirts of the city. The vixen glanced warily at the sun, shook herself, then turned to address the cats.

"My kind do not regularly venture out in sunlight but I must overcome difficulties as you are so kindly doing. And now I think, I must explain. I am called Moon and my female sibling was caught in a death-trap last moon-cycle, leaving her kits unmothered. I came to retrieve and raise the young but as I arrived at their suntime den I saw the furless ones capture the last of the kits in a live-trap. I followed the furless ones as they returned to their snowtime den, but gray foxes are neither daylight creatures nor creatures of furless ones' dwellings. I needed the help of creatures of the dens of furless ones but those small enough to not chase me away fled. So instead I followed the furless one who imprisoned my kits until I saw the furless one's kits imprison your friend. Accompanied by this knowledge, will you still help me?"

"Of course." Darkstar replied without hesitation. "I promised you we would. Just show us which house." Moon smiled in relief, showing several sharp teeth, the turned and loped along the edge of the woods for a while. She stopped in front of a blue house.

"The snowtime den of the furless one's troop is the color of kit-milk when it is spilled and a quarter turn of the moon old. It is one and a half paws worth of claw-sheaths of snowtime dens past this one. It has a large live-trap on the far side of the den from the leaving-point. ...Am I expected to accompany you?" Moon seemed scared.

"What do you guys think?" Darkstar asked the other cats.

"I don't want to stick my neck out for a fox who's too scared to stick her own neck out." Crimsonclaw objected.

"Well gray foxes are nocturnal." Nightpaw argued. "We shouldn't force her to come into a place gray foxes avoid at a time that she would usually be asleep!"

"They're her cubs." Wildear said bluntly. "Well, almost."

"I think bringing her along would slow us up." Sandpelt commented.

"How do we even know the fox kits would come with us. They don't know us." Crimsonclaw pointed out.

"That's true, we don't." Darkstar agreed. "Alright, sorry Moon but it seems you will need to come with us.

"Your arguments are audibly just." Moon acknowledged with a reluctant nod. "I will accompany you." Together, the six of them made their way into the twoleg-place.

"So, how many houses do we need to pass?" Crimsonclaw asked.

"One and a half paws worth of claw-sheaths of snowtime dens past the first one." Moon responded without looking back at him. Crimsonclaw sighed, annoyed at Moon's odd words.

"So, how many houses do we need to pass?" Crimsonclaw repeated.

"Six houses after the first one." Nightpaw snapped. "We've already passed two." They walked in silence for a little longer, Moon jumping at every noise from the twoleg nests. At the fourth house they passed, a male twoleg came out, holding a large, full, black plastic bag. All of the cats tensed but Moon went streaking back the way they came, towards the trees. Darkstar immediately gave chase and the others followed his example. They caught up to Moon when she was already halfway up a tree.

"Come down." Darkstar yowled at her. Moon looked down at them, then cautiously climbed back down.

"My apologies for the flight. The furless one caused me fear."

"It's fine. The twoleg is back in his nest now so the way should be clear." Moon nodded and they recommenced their journey. Moon still fell behind after a while and Sandpelt used the opportunity to speak to Darkstar out of the fox's hearing range.

"How, exactly, do you know that the twoleg is back in his nest? He was still out when we left."

"He was just taking out the garbage. I'd be very surprised if he was still outside. 'Specially on a rainy morning like this." Sandpelt nodded, appeased, and they continued walking in silence. They reached the intended house before much longer. As Moon had said, there was a large wire enclosure in the back yard. A pile of soft, brindled gray fur was visible in the far corner. Moon, seeing this, threw caution to the wind and ran to the corner where the kits were huddled together. She emitted a few high-pitched yips and the kits, waking, responded in kind. They continued yipping at each other for some time until Moon finally came back to where the cats were waiting.

"My female sibling's kits report that the furless ones carried them in the live-trap to this snowtime den and acted strangely to Wind's leg, which held traces of a badgerbite from before the capture. As Wind said, the badgerbite stopped paining him a half turn of the moon after the furless ones acted strangely to it. After the badgerbite ceased to pain, all four of my female sibling's kits were placed in the live-trap. A furless one has given killed-prey to the kits each tonight. But they remain imprisoned in this live-trap."

"We'll look at the door to the cage and see what we can do." Darkstar replied. Darkstar led the others to the cage door and examined the latch carefully. The mechanism seemed fairly simple and would be no problem for human hands. It was one of those latches that is a strip of metal with a slit in it. The slit goes into place around another piece of metal that has a hole in it for a proper lock. In this case there was no lock, instead there was a piece of wire wrapped through the hole and around the metal of the cage that was nearest the latch.

"If you hold there," Sandpelt commented, poking the wire with a paw. "And I pull here, we could get the wire away from the bar and around this one."

Darkstar and Sandpelt tried out Sandpelt's suggestion and it worked well. The two of them continued working at the wire until it finally came away from the latch with a quiet springing noise. Darkstar tossed it aside and pawed at the latch.

"My paws are too big." Darkstar hissed as he failed yet again at working his paw under the latch.

"Let me try." Nightpaw said, stepping forward. Darkstar looked her over, then nodded and stepped back.

Nightpaw tried several times before finally managing to get her claws underneath it.

"It's stiff." She groaned, pulling it a little ways away from the cage. Wildear darted forward and worked her paw into the gap Nightpaw had made. Together they were able to pull it a little farther and suddenly, it sprang upwards and was unlatched. Crimsonclaw, Sandpelt, and Darkstar pulled the door open and held it up as Moon climbed in and rounded up the kits. However, before they could get back out, the back door to the house slammed open, startling everyone present. The twoleg who opened it gave a wordless shout and ran towards the group, waving her arms.

"Wildear, Nightpaw, Crimsonclaw, distract them. We can hold the door." Darkstar instructed. The three cats he named ran at the twoleg, hissing and spitting. The twoleg tried kicking at Wildear but she jumped out of the way and Crimsonclaw got his claws into the twoleg's ankle. Darkstar stopped watching the fight to check on Moon and was glad he did.

"Move!" Darkstar snarled at her when he saw that she and the kits were crouched, frozen in fear.

"Can you hold this for a moment by yourself?" Sandpelt asked.

"I think so." Darkstar replied, adjusting the way the door fell across his shoulders. Sandpelt leapt into the cage and slid in behind the foxes. He bit deep into Moon's tail until she broke out of her fear and turned on him.

"Run!" Sandpelt hissed. "Take the kits and flee!" Moon finally processed what he was saying and picked up one of the kits and dropped it next to Darkstar before going back for the next one. Sandpelt also picked one up and dropped it with its siblings before helping Darkstar hold the door open. Once Moon and all four kits were a safe distance from the door, Sandpelt and Darkstar dropped it and ran to defend her. While they were doing this, the twoleg dropped her coat on Crimsonclaw and, ignoring the other two cats as they struggled to reclaim her attention, ran towards the foxes.

"Keep moving them to the forest." Darkstar yowled at Moon as he and Sandpelt went to head off the twoleg. Wildear and Nightpaw dragged the heavy coat off Crimsonclaw and the three of them joined in the attack. Eventually the twoleg ran back to the nest, her legs bleeding. The cats fled the yard and ran back in the direction of the forest. Once there they found Moon crouched in a hollow under a fern plant with the kits.

"How are they?" Darkstar asked.

"The kits are full of health, but they are possessed of a tiredness suiting to the sun-height."

"I don't think they're safe this close to the twoleg-place. Twolegs like the one that came out don't like to give up on taking care of wild animals that easily. You can bring them to our camp if you'd like."

"The offer of hospitality is severely appreciated. We will accept. I am uncertain that my female sibling's kits can complete that journey though."

"We can help carry them."

"My appreciation is very severe." So saying, Moon picked one of the kits up and left the hollow. Darkstar ducked in and grabbed the next. Sandpelt and Wildear moved forward to grasp the remaining two. Crimsonclaw led the way to camp with the cats holding fox kits surrounding Moon as they followed him and Nightpaw followed behind to offer her help if any of the kit-holders grew weary.


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-five**

"So they need a safe place to sleep." Darkstar finished explaining. "Can they sleep in here?"

"Can you promise she won't eat our kits?" Embershade hissed.

"If it makes you feel better, some of the warriors can share the den for tonight also."

Embershade hesitated, then nodded. "Alright, as long as Sandpelt and Brighttalon are among the warriors in here."

"That can be arranged." Darkstar responded. Moon and the fox kits were sitting outside the nursery with the patrol that helped rescue them while Darkstar spoke to the queens. After Rosethorn nodded her agreement to Embershade's condition, Darkstar turned and exited the den.

"Okay, they agreed. But they want some warriors in there too. Sandpelt, you and Brighttalon were named specifically. I'll send Brighttalon in as soon as I find him. I rather suspect they wanted more than just you two though. Wildear, Crimsonclaw, will you join them?"

"'Kay" Wildear agreed with a shrug. Crimsonclaw nodded and picked up a fox kit. Moon, Sandpelt, and Wildear picked up the others and moved them inside. After this was done, Darkstar went to search the warriors den for Brighttalon, his tail dragging with weariness. Brighttalon agreed quickly to sleep in the nursery for the remainder of the night and Darkstar trudged to his den, collapsing into sleep as soon as he got into his nest.

It was nearly sunhigh before Darkstar awoke. He jumped out of his nest, annoyed at himself for sleeping in so long and left his den. Brighttalon was sitting a tail-length away, grooming.

"Oh, hey, you're finally awake."

"You could've woken me up earlier."

"You were out all night rescuing people. You needed the sleep. Anyway, I already assigned the patrols for today."

"Am I on any?"

"Sunset patrol on the lake-side border."

"Who's with me?"

"Moonleap and Blackpaw."

"'Kay, thanks."

Just then Snaketail walked up to them.

"Darkstar?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind telling Tornadoclaw to move to the nursery? I told her earlier but she doesn't want to so she said that she only would if you told her to."

"Yeah, I will."

"Thank you." Snaketail turned and left, her tail twitching irritably.

Darkstar got up and followed her a little ways, veering off to check the warriors den for Tornadoclaw. Shadowlion was the only cat in there. She looked up from her grooming as Darkstar entered.

"Hey Darkstar." Shadowlion greeted him.

"Hey." Darkstar purred in return. "Do you know where Tornadoclaw is?"

"She and Moonleap went out hunting."

"Thanks." Darkstar turned to leave, then continued speaking on a whim. "Do you want to come with me to find her?"

"Sure." The two of them exited the den and left camp together.

Blackpaw slipped into her den, weary after training all night with Iceheart and then being assigned to a hunting patrol as soon as she awoke.

"Hello Blackpaw." Blackpaw closed her eyes tight in disappointment before opening them and turning around.

"Hello Iceheart."

"I didn't expect to see you return so soon."

"I was hoping for a nap so that I'd be more awake for border patrol later."

"Well, let's take this opportunity to train more, shall we?" Iceheart asked, willfully ignoring her hint.

"Do we have to?"

"But Blackpaw, I thought you wanted to be the best warrior you could be?"

"I do want to but I'm exhausted!"

"Very well," Iceheart sighed, sounding disappointed. "I suppose it can't be helped. Someone of your stamina does need sleep." Blackpaw twitched her ears back, feeling like she'd been insulted but not certain. The background, and Iceheart with it, faded to black and Blackpaw was able to sleep restfully.

Blackpaw wasn't sure exactly when she made the connection but after she woke up she knew that Iceheart was a member of the Dark Forest and that his training would lead her to trouble. However, she was uncertain as to what to do because she was scared that Iceheart might turn on her if she said she wanted out. Eventually, Blackpaw decided to wait until Iceheart had taught her enough to defeat him if he did attack her, then tell him. With this solution in mind, Blackpaw left to join the border patrol.

Snaketail looked up from sorting plants as Nightpaw came in with some more.

"Hey, want to help?" Snaketail asked. Nightpaw set her mouthful of goldenrod leaves and flowers down.

"I'm afraid I can't. I told Silverfire I'd come in and look at her paw. She's getting restless."

"That didn't take long." Snaketail commented, her whiskers twitching in amusement. "I'll get a rosemary poultice ready."

"I can do that. The herbs do need to be sorted."

"I thought this was supposed to be an apprentice task." Snaketail said with a scowl but she twitched her whiskers again to show that she didn't mean any of it.

"Seems to me it's the task of whoever's doing it." Nightpaw teased. Snaketail hissed playfully at her and Nightpaw went into the stores to find the rosemary. When Nightpaw came out again a moment later Snaketail stopped her again.

"I was thinking about what Sunfish said last time we saw her" -this was over a moon ago because clouds had covered the moon the last two times- "and I was wondering, do you think I should go talk to Blackpaw?"

Nightpaw deliberated for a moment, then shrugged, unwilling to set down her rosemary, and nodded.

"Alright, thanks." Nightpaw nodded again and left. Snaketail finished separating the different plants and put them all away before going to look for Blackpaw. Snaketail found her quickly; Blackpaw was sitting outside the apprentice's den talking to her denmates.

"Um, Blackpaw?" Snaketail asked, approaching the group of apprentices hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Would it be okay if we spoke together in private?"

"Alright." Blackpaw agreed, looking vaguely surprised. Snaketail led Blackpaw out of camp and to the riverbank.

"What's up, Snaketail?"

"I was wonder... I was just curious, have you been having, uh, different dreams lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"Um," Snaketail paused. "I'm not sure how to say it. Have you been, dreaming about, one cat multiple times?"

"I don't feel anything for any of our clanmates." Blackpaw responded with an embarrassed smile. Then she struggled to clarify. "Well, I mean other than friendship. I don't feel anything romantic."

"That actually wasn't what I meant." Snaketail clarified, also slightly embarrassed. "I meant, have you dreamt about a cat that you have not met outside of dreams?"

"Why do you ask?" Blackpaw questioned, beginning to understand where Snaketail was going.

"Um," Snaketail had to think how she would answer the question without giving Blackpaw reason to doubt her sanity if she was incorrect in guessing that Blackpaw was meeting with a Dark Forest cat.

"I just needed to check something for Starclan. I'll ask other cats similar questions." Snaketail finally answered.

"Okay. Well, yeah, I have been." Blackpaw responded, feeling no need for secrecy.

"Who is it?"

"His name is Iceheart. He and some of his" -there was the slightest hesitation- "friends were teaching me some fighting moves. Moves that I don't think Moonleap knows. But-" Blackpaw cut herself off before she could finish the sentence. Snaketail's ears pricked at the sentence that Blackpaw didn't finish.

"But what?"

"He- I'm not sure he's as safe as he seemed before."

"What makes you say that?"

"If I tell you, will you help me?" Blackpaw's voice was suddenly desperate. "Please don't leave me to die there!"

"Of course." Snaketail promised, alarmed at the sudden change in attitude. "Of course I'll help you."

"They've been teaching me for over a moon now but when I woke up from a nap earlier I realized why it all seemed so familiar. Iceheart's with the Dark Forest!"

"I know." Snaketail replied. "Or rather, I suspected. Have you told Iceheart that you know who he is yet?"

"No," Blackpaw admitted. "I was scared to."

"That's fine. Would you mind acting as a spy? I would but, judging by the fact that no Dark Forest cat has approached me, I don't think they plan on inviting me."

"I don't know if I can." Blackpaw said. "But I might be able to get you in. If I comment to Iceheart that you want learn how to fight better he might offer you training as well."

"That'd be great." Snaketail responded, trying not to let it show through her eyes just how excited she was by this opportunity.

"But Snaketail, will you help me survive there? I don't think anything could be worse than those imaginary friends. I wouldn't be surprised if any one of them would betray the others for a mouse whisker."

"They probably would." Snaketail agreed grimly. "And of course I'll help you. I'll do everything in my power to protect you. Don't surrender to fear."


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-six**

Darkstar woke early the following morning and left his den just as the dawn patrol were getting ready to leave.

"Mind if I join you?" Darkstar asked Sandpelt.

"Sure. Eaglepaw's fetching Snowlion. We'll leave when they get out." Snowlion and Eaglepaw showed up soon afterward and the four of them set off for the field-side border. The morning patrol seemed really quiet at first but as they reached the gate that closed the forest off from the campsite a group of cats jumped down from where they were lounging on top of the gate.

There were five of them; a light ginger tomcat with darker flecks and medium-length fur, a long-furred honey-colored tomcat with orange eyes, a short-furred dark brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes, a dark gray she-cat with green eyes, and a long-furred dark gray tomcat with yellow eyes.

The ginger tomcat stalked forward, bristling a challenge.

"This is Leafclan territory." Darkstar growled. "Leave." None of the intruders responded but the ginger leaped at Darkstar. Darkstar jumped forward to meet him, which encouraged the other cats on both sides into action.

Eaglepaw stared, scared, as the battle began and turned and fled. After he could no longer hear the yowls, Eaglepaw began thinking about what the others would think of him when they realized that he had run away. Ashamed, Eaglepaw ran back. Snowlion caught his eye but she was too busy fighting the tabby to say anything. Just after Snowlion turned away, the honey-colored tom leaped at Eaglepaw. Eaglepaw turned and tried to flee again but his opponent was faster. The rogue caught up to Eaglepaw and knocked him to the side with a heavy blow from one paw. Looking up at the rogue as he lifted a paw to attack Eaglepaw again, Eaglepaw decided that he wasn't going to be scared, that he could win this. Eaglepaw rolled away at the last second, causing the rogue to lose his balance temporarily. Eaglepaw took advantage of this by jumping onto the other tom's back and biting deep into his scruff. The rogue yowled in pain and tried to shake Eaglepaw off. When that didn't work, he rolled onto his back, jumping up again quickly so as not to expose his stomach for long. Eaglepaw's breath left in a huff as he got squashed beneath his opponent. Despite this, Eaglepaw regained his paws quickly. As the rogue attempted to leap at Eaglepaw again, Sandpelt intercepted him with a bound of his own. The two older toms rolled around for a little bit as each tried to get the advantage. Then Eaglepaw rejoined and the honey-colored tom fled for the campsite.

Eaglepaw looked around and noticed for the first time that none of the other cats were fighting anymore. Most of the rogues had run off and Darkstar and Snowlion were facing the remaining one; the dark gray tomcat. Sandpelt and Eaglepaw joined their clanmates.

"I didn't fight you in the first fight either." The rogue pointed out. His voice was calm but his tail twitched nervously.

"You're friends did." Snowlion hissed.

"They're not friends. If any of you had stopped in the middle of the fight and told your opponent that one of the others had looked at him or her in a funny way, they'd turn on each other."

"Really?" Darkstar asked.

The tom shrugged. "That's what I did. Tommy, the ginger tom, decided later that it was funny and they sort of hung around. In truth, I'm grateful. I've been trying to get rid of them for a quarter-moon now."

"Then what do you want?" Sandpelt asked. "Why didn't you just leave when the fighting began?"

"Like your younger ally did?" The rogue asked.

"He went to look for reinforcements. When he didn't find any he returned to help us fight!" Snowlion snarled at him. Eaglepaw stared at her, surprised at the lie she had told on his behalf, then he tried to look as though her statement was true. "Now answer the question."

"I wanted to ask if I can join you." There was a moment's silence.

"Why?"

"I like the idea of fighting and living alongside cats who actually care if I live or die."

"We need to talk about this." Darkstar responded, gesturing with his tail to his clanmates.

"I'll wait here."

Darkstar led his companions a fox-length away.

"Suggestions?"

"I think we could use him." Sandpelt commented unwillingly. "I don't like the idea of bringing in rogues, but I didn't much care for the idea of recruiting the foxes either and Moon has proven tremendously useful in bringing in prey."

"I agree with Sandpelt." Eaglepaw said.

"I don't trust him." Snowlion growled. Then reluctantly continued. "But yeah, he could be useful."

"Alright, I guess it's decided then." Darkstar looked over his shoulder at the tom. He was washing his ears.

"What's your name?" Darkstar asked him.

"Rustle." He answered, looking up. "Have you made a decision?"

"Yeah, we'll try you out. Come on, we're heading back to our camp." Rustle caught up to them and the group headed home.

Brighttalon looked up as Darkstar led the patrol back into camp.

"How'd it-" Brighttalon cut himself off to ask "Who's he?"

"This is Rustle." Darkstar answered. "The patrol went well, just a minor skirmish on the field-side border. After the fight Rustle asked to join us."

"Did he fight?"

"No, he sat it out. I figured we'd give him a chance at least. If it doesn't work out we can send him away then."

"Alright." Brighttalon turned to face the new tom. "You up for a hunting patrol?"

"Sure." Rustle agreed.

"'Kay, Wildear, Dawnpaw, and I are heading out soon. You can join us."


End file.
